SZABO SZILVIAMICHAEL COLLINS

ENGLISHLEVEL C (82)

PRÁCTICE EXAMINATIoNBOOK 1

ECL PRACTICE EXAMSI _5

READINGWRITING

LISTENINGSPEAKING

With language competence...... for a united Europe.

CERTIFICATE OF ATTAINMENTIN MODERI\ LANGUAGES

ENGLISHLEVEL C (82)

Practice Exam Book 1

ECL Practice Exams 1-5

Written and Compiled by

Szabó Szilviaand

Michael Collins

ECLPractice Exam Book 1

English tEvEL c (B2)

Certificate of Attainmentin Modern Languages

Dunaújváros, Augu st 2a07

Table of Contents

Preface

Practice Test I

- Anslver Kcy

Practicc Test 2

- Answer Key

Practice Tcst 3

- Answcr Key

Practicc Test 4

- Answer Key

Practice Tcst 5

- Answer Key

Exan'rination Instructions

- Examinat ion Topic L ist

- Examination Tips

Useful phrases when spcaking

Engl ish in Use - Writ ing Ski l ls

page l

page 9

pagc 20

pagc 25

page 3ó

pagc 4l

page 52

pagc 59

pagc I 1

pagc 11

pagc 89

page 95

page l0 l

page 105

page I l3

pagc 1 11

PrefaceOur teaching experience has shown that a very good understandirrg of the test notonly great ly increases your chance of passing the test f i rst t ime. but also passing itwith a very good result. Realistic practice test material used prior to the test. suchas shown in this book, will prepare you for the actual test.

If you should have problems understanding the information shown in this book.your teacher/tutor will be only too pleased to help you.

Each practice test contains realistic tasks of the type you would íjnd in a real EC]Lexarninat ion.

There are many ways of using these practice examinations. For instancc:

o You can take each test as i f i t were a real examination.

o You can use the whole or parts of each test Íbr practiccpurposes.

o You can acquire a general impression of the contcnts andprocedures of the examination by studying the contents of cachtest.

o You can pract ice your l istening comprehension ski l ts by l isteningto the l istening tasks; alter which, you should check theanswers/tapescript. Notice the keywords that have been used togive the correct answers. You should not read the tapescript as youl isten to the recording. In a real exam. you wi l l not have access tc)the tapescr ipl .

If you wish to work through the practice examinations as if it were a real test. youwill find answer sheets for each practice exam. A complete answer key isprovided, along with the tapescripts of the recordings. You wil| Í-rnd it very rrseÍulto read these where you have answered questions incorrectly.

However, you may need the help of a tutor/teacher to organise the test in the sameway as a real examination is conducted.

Above all, you should not read any of the answer sheets. pre-read any of the textsor look at any of the picturcs before attempting a test. These practice tests aredesigned to al low you to cxperience an ECL exarninat ion pr ior to actual ly s i tt ingfor the examination.

Using this test rnater ial for pract ice purposes, we would rccommend that you keepto thc speciÍled t inlcs Ít lr the individual pafts of the test - as in a real exatninat ion

c.g. 45 nl inutcs Íbr Reading Comprehcnsion; 75 minutes Íbr Writ i rrg and 30tninutes Íbr Listcning. In this way yOu wi lI develop a feel ing Íbr the t imc a||ottedÍbr thc incl iv i i lual test i te lt ls. You can pract ice the Rcading Cornprehension,Listcning Compre hcnsion (with the help of thc CD) ancl the Letter/Composit ionWrit ing sub-tcsts.

The correct al lSwe rS Íbr the individLral tcsts cetI-t be Íound at t l rc cncl of cach test.Do Irot rcacl thesc befbre you itttcmpt a tcst. Use thern to chcck your work and paypart icLr lar attent iolr to thc lcttcrs style, phrascs uscd and layout and to the shortart ic lcs usc of kcywurcls, sentencc orclcr ancl paragraphs.

Modcl aI lSwcrS Íbr the lettcr tas|<s arc givcn' but your lctter s l ioulc l bc rnarked byyottr tcacltcr or a s it l l i lar|y c1Lral iÍicd pcrsol l . It is of coursc r lot possible Íi lr you tc. lpract isc the oral tcst by yoursclf- ' bttt you wi l l bc ablc to Íirrr l i l iar ise yoLrrsclf witht l te lasl<s ancl proccclurcs as we l l as thc asscssrncnt cr i tr"-r ia.

Thc writ ing skiI ls rcc1uirccl by the []CL exarr l in ltt ion lrr-- qtt i tc- denlanding. It is Íi l rt l t is rcason that wc have incluclcd a writ ing ski l ls sect ion in this book. In i t yor.rwi l| 1lncl cxatnplcs o1. iníornraI ancl Íi l rI l la l lctters, along with comIn()n pIrraseswhich yol l can lcarn to use. A scct ion is inclucled on how to go about writ ing ashort art ic lc. alons with an cxarnplc tcxt which dentonstratcs t l tc usc ol- keyworcls/ idcas being tLrrt lcc l i rttt l scntctrccs. FinaIly, yclu wi l l a lso Ílncl a sect ion onbasic ounctuat ior-r.

Tharlk yor.r lbr pLrrc|rasirlg this book. We hclpe that yotr Ílncl these PracticcE'ranl inat ic l t ls intcrcst i t lg ancl t l rat you wiI l pass with Í1ying colours!

We woLrld l ikc to thank Dr Háry Lászl( l ancl Dr Huszt i Judit, Univcrsity of Pécs,Foreign Language Clentre, forthciradvicc and help, as wel l as olrrcol leagues whopar t i c ipa ted in thc rnak ing o f th i s pub l i ca t ion .

Szabó Sz i l v ia and Michae l Co l l ins

I JSUJ flJITJYUd

Readíng (45 minutes/2S marks)

Reud the text below. The second part tú'each pura!]raph is missing.from the pussage.You can Íi,d them a./ter the text. ||,rite the appropriate qnswers inti the boxes^ufter thetext. You need to ./iil itt I0 boxes. The .first (0) has been clone űs un exantple. Tiere arethree parűí1raph enclings whiclt yott will ttot neetl.

College graduation brings both the satisfaction of academic achievernent and theexpectat ion of a wel l -paying job to many t l rousands of gracluates each year.

But for 6000 gradr-rates at Sitn Jose State this year, there's uncertainty as they enter one ofthe worst job rnarkets in clecades. The nr,rrlber of gracluates has increasecl copsiderably,but the nutnber of graduate Jobs has stayed the sanre or decreasecl . . . .0. . .

"YoLl look at everybody's parents attc l neighbours. and they're gett ing la id off and don'thave jobs , " sa id S tewar t . . . . I . . . "

Whert the class of 2003 etrtered college. tlte econorny was boornipg ancl the future neverl ooked b r i gh t e r . . . . 2 . . .

"Those were the excitit lg titrres, lots of dot-cor-r-r opportunities, exploding offers. studentsgett ing top dol lar with lots of benc' f i ts." said Cheryl Al lmen-Vi in idge, of the San JoseState Care er Centre. . . .3. . .

Cheryl Al lmen-Vinnidge ought to know. She nrns the San Jose State Career Centre, a sortof a crossroads between col lege and the real world. which tr ics to help graduatesunders tand the wor ld o f work . . . .4 . . .

"The typical graduate ',vl 'ro does havc a job offer started working on it two years ago.They ' r ' e pos tured the ' r se lves wc l l d ' r ing the surnr r rc r . . . .5 . . .

And they've nlajored in one of the few flelcJs that are sti l l hot - l ike chentical engineering,account ing.or nurs ing - whcre average start ing salar ies have actual ly increu.. . f qver lasty e a r ' . . . . 6 . .

Ryart Stewart. wl ' ro had hopccl to beconte a teacher. lnay justend up going back to school.. . . 7 . . .

Perhaps graduates e.rpectat ions are too high. We now l ive in a constant ly changing worldof br-rs ine ss and cornrnerce. . . .8. . .

For sorne stuclents a degrec rnay not be t icket to instant wealth. . . .9. . .

However, graduates of the firtrrre lvilI neec1 to thilrl< careÍr-rl ly w|rat they choose to study.. . . 1 0 . .

10

marks

a. Plan ear ly how they wi l l handle the change frotn univcrs i ty to the work-place.

and most of a l l , bel ieve that good luck plays a part.

b. But in the four years they've been here, the world outside has changed

dramatical ly.

c. other populirr fields (l ike infortnation systems maÍIagement, cotltputer science.

and pol i t ica l sc ience) have seen big decl ines in start ing salar ies.

d. Ryan Stewart has a freshly minted degree in religious studies, but no jobprospects.

e. School, after a l l , is not such a bad place.

f . " l 'd l ike to teach at col lege some day and that requires tnore school ing, which

would be great in a bad economy," he said.

g. For now, they can only hope i ts value wi l l increase over t i lne.

h. ' 'Titnes have chanÍIed. It's a new tnarket.' '

i . Prospects for students are far from being predictable.

j "Then you look at the young people just coming into the workforce.. . i t 's just

scary."

k. Al l rnen-Vinnidge says students who do f ind jobs after col lege have done their

homework.

l . Gone are 5-year business models - s i r months can be a long t i rne in this bravenew world.

ln. "They've had several interrtships," she said.

n. Graduates earn more money than non--graduates.

0 2 lJ

ÁT 5 6 7 8 9 l 0

d

11

Part 2 fl2.5 marks)

Read the text below. Some clauses are missing from the passage. You can find thembelow the text. Write the appropriute onswers into the boxes in the text. You will needto .fiII in I0 boxes. The .|írst (0) has been done as an example. There ure three clauseswhich you will not need.

You rung a help desk number to usk for assistance with an insurance claim. You JbltÍhe time you had to wait before your call was answered wűS unreasonable and theperson who ansrvered your call was unhelpful.

Dear Sir or Madarn.

I am writing to express my 0.1 K I with the service I received from your company's

telephone helpline dr-rring a recent telephone call to your insurance claim call centre, and

l. at r'vhat I believe to be yolrr cornpany's lack of staff training and support.

T-On September 28th, at 2:15 pm I rang your freephone number 2. I

=A:gI insurance

clairn. I had to wait for 43 minutes before my call was answered 3. I t had toendure the most awfr,rl music and advertisins. and which did not make the waitins timeallv more enjoyable .

lWhen an operator was finally available, I 4. I very

stressed and 5. i of the insurance claim I wishedvir lual ly impossible to conclude my enquiry.

difficult to understand, obviously

to make. Obviouslv. this made it

received very good advice andinsurance cornpany for over l5

I would have no compunction

from your company,always recommended

supponyears, I

I locrged a cornplaint with the cal1 centre supervisor and have since had ó. I

,.-- "- - --'""

However, I feel 7. , has an obligation to support staff at call centres morethoroughly; rnaking sure that they have tools to do the iob properly. I belie$E call

centre was obviously under-staffed and the staff available, poorly trained. I 8. I thissituation is allowed to happen and how you intend to rectify the operation of the callcentre.

In the past, I have alwaysand having been rvith your

your company. However,I

10 . .

12

should I not get a

I would very much enjoy reading your reply to this matter within the week.

Yours faithfully,

Add these missins clauses:

A. also my annoyance

B. and during this time

C. as I had a query about

D. because I wanted to ask questions

E. found hirn to be

F. in moving to another insurance company

G. my query dealt with in full

H. rapid and satisfactory response

I. the large corporation you represent

J. to move insurance companies

total lack of satisfacti

L. very unsatisfied

M. wish to know why

N. with apparently very little knowledge

13

Writing

Part 1

(75 minutes/2S marks)

(12.5 marks)

You have been asked to write a short essay about the use oJ'computers in school andeducation. Write your essűJ, with reference to the.following points:

c ll/hat ore con puters used Jbr in your school/college?o ll/hat are the beneJits Jbr students to use computers in schools/educution?o Where do we see computers being used in our daily lives?o How irnportant is c'onrputer knowledge; und being able to use one in today's

workplace?

Write your essay here (about 200 words).

Schools and colleges have advanced so Jar technologically that almost every studenthas uccess to a contputer, whether to tuke notes in class, do their homework, or doresearclr on the Internet.

5

l 0

15

.) í)

1 4

Part 2 (12.5 marks)

LVrite a letter complaining about ytlur recent holida1,, where the hotel üccommodatiottwas not us advertised in the holiday brochure and was below the expected standard.Identi.fy reűsonS with the followittg aspects:

o The stsr rsting of the hotel.o The room/butltroont, etc.o Extra costs payuble (suclt as.for evening meals, etc.)o The luck of hotel Jacilities (gym, swimming pool, etc.)o Describe the lack of response.fiont the local travel representative.

Write your letter here (about 200 words).

I am writ ing to complain

5

l 0

l 5

15

Listening about30 minutes/2S marks

Part 1 (12.5 marks)

You are going to hear two people talking about damuge to the Coral Reef, First, look

at the sentences below. As you listen, complete each of the numbered sentences (l-10)

with a.few wortls (max. 5). The.first (0) has been done űS an example.

You huve 30 seconds to reud the questions below. You will hear the conversution twice.

During the first listening, do us ntuch as you cun und complete or correct your v:ork

during the second listening. LISTEI,{ CAREFIJLLY.

Exarnple: 0. Deep-sea coral l ives a long time and it plays a key role in that itprovides essential habitat for fish.

l . In a way Red Tree Coral looks

2. On the sea floor, coral provides

3. Other organisms live in the coral, they provide food which

4. Some people think that coral is a plant species, but actually

5. It has been established that coral is slow growing

6. You can estir-nate the age of coral by

7 . Coral can l ive for 100 to

8. There is concern about Alaska's corals because they

9. Fishing can cause much dan-rage to the coral and destroy

10. Whi lst they l ive for a long t ime, i f damaged they take a

16

Part 2 (12.5 marks)

You sre going to hear a cliscttssion ubout energ)) fficiency.First, Iook at tlte tuble below and reacl tlte statements. As you listen, decide if'thestatements ure TRLIE, FALSE or IIOT STATED IMHE TEXT (lYot Stated). Put un Xinthe appropriate colunut (l - I0). The./irst (0) ltus been completed as an example.

You have 30 seconds to read the sentences below.

You will hear the discussion twice. Do cts rttuclt us yott can during the.first listening andcornplete or correct your work cluring the second listening. LISTEMAREFIILLY.

Erantple:0. Changing just one light bulb type we use would make large energy savings TRUE

l. If all bulbs were changed to rnore efficient l ighting, bil l ions of dollars would besaved.

2. Normal l ight bulbs wi l l be unavai lable within a few years.

3. The best way forward is for state laws to be put in place regarding energy.

4. The cost of l ight bulbs is a rnajor reason why people wil l not buy the more efficientCFL type of bulb.

5. Energy efficiency is not the only area of concern.

6. Dernand for energy will increase in the future, but energy ger-reration should be ableto keep pace with demand.

l. E,nergy efficiency is seen as a rnajor step in cornbating clirnate change.

8. Congress is ready to pass many energy bil ls.

9. The G8 conference will discuss energy efficiency at its next meeting.

10. The USA is leading the world in energy conservat ion measures.

0 I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 l 0

True X

False

Not

Stated

17

Oral Communication

Part l Introduction

Part 2 Guided conversation

about 20 minutes

Some people say that thc best preparation for lifc is learning to work with others andbeing cooperative. Others take thc opposite view and say that leaming to be cornpetitivcis the best preparation. Discuss thesc positions, using specific examples of both. Saywhich one you agree with and explain why.

Part 3 Picture description/topic based on visual stimuli

Possible ouestior

Do t ott hu

Do tou thi

Do vou tlttthese chan

Hou,cat tcoLlntry):

Wlru! eÍa|l

ln rour op

'18

Possible questions

o Do ultt huve |nany cl i ,;a'sÍer'y in . l .t l tt L'OIlttÍt..1. thuÍ ure c:uu,setl b. l ,u'euÍher,?

o Do yrlu Íhink thttt itt rec,ent yeurS v,e htlve been lo'sing rlur.ftlur di's,tinc,t 'seuscltts,?

o Do you Íhinli weuther ptttÍerns are chunging,., If ';o, v,huÍ clo vott rhink is c,tttt.singthese c'hanges'?

o Hoy, can ertrente u,ettÍher c,ondititltl's ttf/cc'| |he ectltttlttt.l. antl ,social lilb in u

c'ountrv'?

o Whut exumples ure there o.f,tuttttt.ttl tlí'stt'ster.s,?

C In ))Our opittitltt, w,hic,h is the \|OrSÍ nutttrctl di.su,sÍer that c,an happen,?

19

0 I 2 .|J 4 5 6 1 8 9 l 0

D b h k m f I (J a

Answer Ke Practice Test 1

Reading Parl I

(Not used:

Reading Part 2

e ' i , n )

(Not used: d' j , l)

Writing Part I - Model answer

Schools and colleges have advanced so far technologically that almost everypupil has access to a computero whether tg take notes ín c|ass, do theÍrhomework or do research on the Internet.

In my college for instance, we use computers for language learning, engineering practiceand media studies. Schools, teachers and students using technology in this way -

multimedia, whiteboards, laptops or tablet PCs - see great benefits, such as: time savings,access to material on the Internet, making note taking easier and being able to use up-to-date information rn their lessons and work. which is often not available in course notes orbooks.

But Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is now everywhere in our dailyl ives, l ike electricity or gas piped into our homes. It surrounds us, and we use it everyday: while shopping, using home entertainrnent systerns or buying train tickets. Whetheryou're a secretary, surveyor, executive, student or teacher, the abil ity to use technology isa basic requirement. Half the time we don't realise we're using technology, yeteverybody, everywhere, has to be comfortable with technology.

Many people's imrnediate reaction to this is to say tl-rat students must surely be trained inICT if they want to find a good job. This I agree with. I could not imagine doing my jobwithout the use of at very least a computer. Students should be receiving an educationwhere ICT skil ls are ernbedded across the breadth of their chosen school subiects.

0 2 aJ 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

K a \, b t1 {J i m f h

20

(213 words)

Writing Part2 - Model answer

Dear

24 Vil lage GreenWellin96oroughHertsWE7 sHJ

2o'l 'July zooj

I am writing to complain about the package tour to Marbella booked through your

company on L5th July for the period l0-i6th September. The holiday is advertised on

page34 ofyour travel brochure.

The details given in the brochure con'rpletely rr-risrepresented the reality. According to

your brochure, the hotel should have been three-star. with bathroom and double room

with a balcony. However, the hotel I stayed in was just an ordinary pension. The room

itself was crarlped, even though it contained only one single bed. It faced away fron-r the

sea and looked onto a noisy and crowded rnain street. A supplement had to be paid for

an evening meal.

To make matters worse. the hotel had no fitness suite. no swimming pool or private

beach, although all of these were facil it ies promised in your misleading brochure.

When I complained with your local tour representative, Mr Greg Morton, he said that

the accommodation was as described in the brochure, and did nothing to rectity my

complaint.

I am demanding a full refund of the f650.00 that I paid for this holiday.

I await with interest your early reply.

Yours faithfully,

J. Smith (Mrs)

(206 words)

21

Listening Par l I

A tlrousand |eet below tlre slrrface of the North PaciÍlc ocean. off Alaska. l ive co|orlies ofred tree coral. Some of these corals grow to be as much as ten feet high, with branchesthat spread out l ike a giant fan. The tips of these coral are thin, delicate. In a way, thecoral looks a bit l ike pars ley.Gregor Cai l l iet is a marine sc ient ist at Moss Landing MarineLaborator ies in Cal i fornia. He says Alaska's deep-sea corals, l ike coral everywhere.provide essential habitat for fish.

CAILLIET: "These corals add habitat in that they're l ike trees. So there's a lot of structureon the sea floor that rvouldn't be there nonnally that provide habitat for other organismsas wel l , some of whrch deep water f ishes can feed on."

Many people think of coral as plants" but that 's not real ly true. Al len Andrews is aresearch associate at Moss Landing. He says that whi le they might look l ike plants,thev're actual lv animals.

ANDREWS: " l t 's actual ly a whole col lect ion of organisms l iv ing together where theyshare food that's collected in the water column. They're fi lter-feeding organisms. Thesecorals are not photosynthetic. They rely on collecting food or-rt of the water colunrn."

Recently, Ar-rdrews and Cail l iet conducted studies to determine the age of Alaska's treecorals.

ANDREWS: "The lirst thing we did was section them like you do a tree. So, we take thetrunk of the coral and look at the growth zones just l ike you would with a tree. You countthe growth zones. We get estimates of age first from the growth zones in the sectionsfrorn the coral, and then we would try and validate those estimates. That's where theradiochernistry cornes in."

By calculating the arnount of a decayed radioactive element. scientists can determine itsage. Using these techniques, Andrews found that red tree coral in the Gulf of Alaskasrew slowlv but l ived a long t ime.

ANDRE,WS: Something that's, say two metres tall or two-and-a half metres tall is maybe150 to 200 years old. It's fascinating to me to determine how old things are. In addition, Ienjoy sharing that infonnation with people because I think it tends to be rather shocking.l real ly enjoy being 100, 120 and in some cases n'raybe 200 years old. l t 's fun being r ighton the front ier of th is k ind of sc ience."

Gregor Cail l iet is concerned about Alaska's corals because tlrey tend to rnature later andreproduce slowly. He says any rrrajor disturbance, such as bottom fishing, could wreakhar,,oc on the coral comrrrunities and the fish species they support.

CAILLIET: "The trarvl ing industry. in sorne cases, i f they just go through those habitats,can actual ly jLrst r ip out l i teral ly hundreds i f not rnore of these things. If they l ive a long

22

s gonna take a long time for thent to recover.(471 words)

0. provides ess ential hab itat for .fis h.

I. a bit like parslev,.2. .structure that provicles habitcttJ. deep v,ater.fish fbecl on4. they ure anintals5. but lives./br a long time6' the grrn,th rings ctttcl racliochenti'sÍt"l'7. 200 yecrrs in sctnre c'uses,!. mature later uncl reprotluc'e s/or.r'/t'9. the./ish species the.t, ctrppor"t10. long time to recover

Listening Part 2

YOUNG: We know al l the jokes: How many so and so's does i t take to change a l ightbulb'/ Well, turns out we've had the question backwards: it should be how rnany lightbulbs does it take to change us and our energy wasting economy'?

CALLAHAN: l f every horne in America srv i tched out just one incandescentbulb with a compact fluorescent bulb, it would be the equivalent in CO2 savings ofa mill ion cars off the road for a vear. Just one lisht bulb!

YOUNG: If we changed all four bil l ion of the country's sockets to more efficient l ighting.i t could save l 0 bi l l ion dol lars in e lectr ic i ty costs a year. And i t would el iminate the needfor 50 coal-f-rred power plants. Al l s ides agree in pr incip le that i t 's t ime for l ight ingstandards to change. California's moving toward doing it. If other states follow, theindustry could face a hodgepodge of different standards.

YOUNG: But Noah Horowitz of the Natural Resources Defence Counci l says mostpeople won't buy them as long as the cheaper but wasteful bulb is on the shelf.

The light bulb sheds light on larger issues with efficiency: the vast potential for energysavings and the vexing problems in achieving them. The country's staring at a three-headed hydra of energy threats: national security, high prices and climate change. That'ssparked interest in cleaner sources. But even the most optirnrstic outlook for renewableenergy barely keeps pace rvith our growing energy appetite.

Bingarnan's bil l includes new standards for appliances that could bring big energysavings. And if the l ight negotiators reach agreement in time he'l l make phasing out theincandescent bulb part of the bil l, too. Another bil l cooking in Congress cor.rld raise fuelefficiency for autos for the first tirne in decades. And the National Academy of Sciencesjust rssued a statement call ing on the US to push energy efficiency at the upcorrrrng G8

23

summit of economic world powers as a way to combat climate change. The US, whichconsumes more energy per person than any other country, could frnally be seeing thel ight on conservat ion. (348 words)

0 I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 l 0True X X X X XFalse X X X XNot Stated X X

24

9Z

Z TSfiT frfITSYUd

Reading (45 minutes/2S marks)

Part 1 fl2.5 marks)

Read the.fttlktwing text and put an X in the appropriate c'olumn on the following p(rgeto indicate wltether tlte stateme nt is true or fulse according to the text or whether thereis insu/Jicient inJbrntation provided in the text (I,lot Stuted). The first (0) has been doneűs űt, exaruple.

For someone who watches her diet as much as Wendy Moro, the symptoms didn't add up."Severe fatigue. verligo and very weak. I was at one point able to leg press two hundredpounds. but I could barely walk down the block," says Wendy Moro.

Why. she wondered, would sorireone who eats so healthily feel so unhealthy'/ "A fewtinres a week I was having f ish, whether i t was or lce or three t imes or four t i rnes," saysWendv.

' 'Wlrat kind of Ílsh.] Swordfish, tuna and sea bass. the highest nlerculy-contetit fish soldin the commercia l rnarket." savs Dr. Jane Hightower.

Mercurry enters the ocean with con'rmercial pollution. It works its way up the food charn,and apparently into sorne of the most popular t-ish on the market. Wendy's doctor, Dr.Jane Hightower, was so suspicious that she began testing dozens of her Bay Areapatients. All consumed substantial amounts of fish, and an overwhelming majority testedlriglr Íbr l.nercury rn their systenls.

" l was seeing hair loss, fat igue. muscle ache, headache, feel ing j i rst an i l l feel ing,"Hightower said.

"lt \^,as so obvious that this was the problem." she said. "l wanted to rent a tent and atambourine ."

Her published findings drew national attention. But despite her study, there is sti l l f iercedebate over how muclt Ílsh is safb to eat, and how nluch mercr'rry consllmers are actuallyingest ing. So we decided to do our own test.

CBS 5 joined with Jane Kay, a repofter for the San Francisco Chronicle. We drove tomore tharr lralf a dozen high-end Ílsh nrarkets around the Bay Area. and purclrased tutra'Alaskan halibut, swordl'rsh, and Chilean sea bass. But instead of the dinner table, oursamples wound up packed in ice, and on their way to a testing lab in Washington State.

According to the E,PA (Environmental Protection Agency), the safe level of mercuryintake for a 12O-por-rnd woman like Wendy is a l ittle over 38 micrograms per week. Ourresults show that only hal ibut was under that l imit . On average. a s ingle serving of tunapurchased here in the Bay Area contained more rnercury than the E,PA recommends awol-nan of Wendy's size eat for an entire week. Sea bass had nearly twice that level andswordfish nearlv six tinres the EPA's safe rnercurv intake for a week. in a sinele serving.

26

While there is l ittle scientific data on how the body reacts to high levels of mercury, it hasbeen linked to symptortrs ranging fiom muscle pain to hair loss. birth deÍ-ects. atrd nrttsclcÍ-atigue' And, as in our testing, the evidence is mounting that the larger the fish. the trtorethe exposure.

"l 't-n very frustrated," Wendy said. "l feel the govenrrnent, the FDA (Food and DrLrgAdministration), had this knowledge. This inforrnation should l iave been shared with thepub l i c . "

" l t is a schizophrenic way of thinking to assurne that we can have a substance that is thesecond most toxic e lernent next to plutoniurn, mercury. We tel l people i t is so toxic youcan't do controlled trials on human subjects with it -- yet it 's ok to eat it, it won't botheryou? What's wrong here'l Is anybody listening'/" Hightower said.

Example:

. Wendv Moro doesnot reallv care about what she eats False

Slre Íbund it difÍrcult to rvalk lon-t distances.

She was feeling dizzy.

Some of Dr Hightower 's pat ients had only a l i t t le mercury in their bodies.

People who eat a lot of fish are l ikely to have high levels of rnercury in theirbodies.

5. Dr Hightower wanted to go on a camping holiday when she found out about thesource of the problem.

6' There are now clear guidelirles as to how much Ílsh is saÍ-e to eat.

l. Most of the fish sold in the Bay Area contained fflore rnercury than what isconsidered to be safe.

8. High levels of mercury in the body rnay be lethal.

9. Wendy thinks that the government was withholding infonr-ration fronr thepeople.

10. Mercury is just as po isonous as p lutoniurn.

l .

2 .

J .

4 .

0 I ) 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 l 0TrueFalse xNot Stated

27

Part 2 fl25 marks)

Read tlre text belou:. Some clauses are missirtg ./rom tlte passuge. You can Jind thentbelon, the text. |frite the appropriate letter./br each űnsw,er into the boxes after the text.The./irst (0) has been done os otr exumple. There are three cluuses which you n,ill notneed.

Ear thquake Sc ience

Exan-rple: 0

Wlren t l re earth shook here on March 26t l ' t 2000" . . . i . . . horv the earth around Seatt lewould shakc- dur ing the real th ing lcss thirt t i r year later.

When Seatt le 's Kingdornc was c lemol ishc 'd with explosives. t lore than 200 seismtcrecorders caught every rattle and roll.

Tom Broc l re r o f the U 'S . Gco loÍI i ca l S t r r r .ev S i iVS: ' ' \ ,ou cA| l See the rec l \{ 'AVcS ' . . l . . .

The areas that shook t l i c wors t then . . .2 . . . when the 6 .8 (on the R ichter sca le) N isqua l l yearthquake hit.

"We shouldn't be sr-rrprisecl to see damage- at Boeing field ancl at the port of Seattle wherewe dic l see danla-r le. . . .3. . . the -ground shook longer ancl harc ler than other parts ofSeat t le . "

I t ' s what ' s known as a s le rb quake . . .4 . . . whcrc the Juan de Fr , rca p la te s lab i s d iv ingundernei i th the North Anrer ican plate. ( ieologists bel ievc ' thc plate bent. causing i t toc r a c k . . . . 5 . . . .

Tonr Brocher says. "As soon as we krrerv i t was a deep eaf ihquake - that i t was this typeof earthquake - . . .ó . . . t|rat we shor 'r ld expcct very few aftershocks. ' '

There \\ 'ere only fbur. In San Francisco's Lorna Pr ieta earthcluake here in 1989 which wascloser to the surface. thcre- \\,ere 120 aftershocks. The fhct tltat "cleep-tbcus" earthquakeshar,e ferver af icrshocl(s . . .7 . . . .

Brocher says. "What \\ 'e can tel l people is you're not going to have these aftcrshocks.What we can't te l l ther-n is why. And that 's a research issue."

Geologists Say the Nisc1ira| ly qr lakc or ig ir lated Íl .onl a l tnost t l te sanre spot as the |949qtrake there. arlcl hacl tlre satlle daltta.ue pattcrns. Tlrere were Í-ewer larrds|ides this year. . . 8 . . . .

ol,er the next year and hali researchers r'vant to set oÍT cxp|osives at the surf-ace nearSeatt le, a irned at the s lab 37 nr i les be low.

2B

The waves w i l l then . . .9 . . . and re f lec t back towhcre the plate is and how it 's rnoving. So, beforehave an i dea . . . l 0 . . . t o shake t he ha rdes t .

the surface givirrg infonnation aboutthe earth moves again, geologists wi l l

a) because of the lack of ra inb) sending shockwaves to thc surf-acec) a lso shook the worstd) is fairly straightfbrwarde) bounce off the s labfl) travell ing away from the Kingdorneg) located 36 rniles below the surfacch) we imrnediately put out the word

i) it helped geologists to figure out

j ) which places might be dest inedk) we were afraidl) st i l l puzzles geologistsnr) because in both of those areas

0 I 2 3 4 f, 6 7 8 9 l 0I

29

WrÍting (75 minutes/25 marks)

Part l (12.5 marks)

lfrite a short essay.for J)our school magazine ubout keeping a pet. You should include

tIte Jollowing points:

o Relationship between pets und man.c Detuils about your pet or a pet you would cltoose and why?o Training and living with your pet. Are they noisy?o How easy is it to care for pets? (grooming, keeping clean, feeding)

Write your essay here (about 200 words).

For many people, a pet is their best friend and they enjoy their companionship.

5

l 0

t 5

20

30

Part 2 í|2.5 marks)

Write u letter to a head oÍÍice of a retailing compűny complcining about an electricalproduct that you bought two weeks ago from a local branch. This product is rtowdefective. Write ))our letter using the.following points:

o Product purchased and retailer.c Faults with the product.o Branch manager refuses to uccept responsibility Jbr the goods, puttirtg the

blame on the manufucturer. Does not wunt to reJund the money puid.. Legully, goods must be of ű reasonable quality Jbr a reasonable period tlf.tinte

or the shop is breaking its contract with the customer.. Reject the goods, demand a full reJund.for a.fuulty product.

Write you letter here (about 200 words).

On 1Oth June 2007rI bought

5

l 0

t 5

31

ListenÍng about30 minutes/2S marks

Part 1 (12.5 marks)

You are going to hear somebody talking about being a spy and the world oJ'spying.

First, look at the sentences below. As you listen, complete each of the numberedsentences (I-I0) with afew words (tttux. 5). The,|irst (0) ltas been done űs űlt exumple.You have 30 seconds to read the questions below.

You will hear the recording twice. During the./irst listening, do as much as you cűnand complete or correct your work during the second listening. LISTEIYCAREF LILLY.

Example:Intelligence means 0. mental capacity

or it can refer to

lntel l igence Services col lectabout o ther count r ies .

Employing agents toand collect inforn-ration about them.

Today, jobs for spies are often

The M16 website c lear ly te l ls you

and the type of people it wants

The head o f M l 6 i s

and regarding Iraq (WMD)

A junior ernployee is disrnissed br"rt

l .

2 .

3 .

4 .

5 .

6 .

7 .

8 .

9 .

t 0 . and

32

Part 2 (12.5 marks)

You are goirtg to hear 6 people giving their opirtiorts about sport uncl nroney. First, Iook utthe table below und reud the stutentenÍs. ,4s !,tlu listen, decide n,ltich speaker voices tltcopinion statentent. Put ctrt X in the appropriute speaker's column ugctitrst that opittiort. TheJirst (0) has been contpleted as an exanrple.

Some speakers will express more tlran one opirtiort, in tltis cuse pluce an X in theuppropriate speaker columns against that opinion.

Truo opinion statentents v,ill ttot be mentioned by any o.l'the speukers. Put an X in the NfuIcolumn Jbr those opirtiorts.

You have 30 seconds to read the statements below.

You tyill hear the recording twice. Do as muclt űs yuu can during tlte.first listening undcontplete or correct your v,ork during the second listening. LISTEN CAREFULLY.

Note: NM : Not mentioned by any speaker

Opinion Speaker I 2 3 4 5 6 NM0. Teachers are more important xl . Sport people earn too much

monev

2. They earn enough money

3. They should be paid more

4. They should stop asking for more

5. Doctors and teachers should bepaid more

6. They deserve what they get

33

Oral Communication

Part I Introduction

Part 2 Guided conversation

about 20 minutes

Supporters of technology say that it solvcs problems and makes lit'e better. Opponentsargue that technology crcatcs new problcms that nray threaten or damage the qualityof life. Using one or two examplcs, discuss thcsc two posilions. Which vicw oftcchnology do you support'J Why'?

Part 3 Picture description/topic based on visual stimuli

34

Possible questions

Doe,s the /bshion industrt, exi,st ntctinl_t, to persuade people to spend mctnev on

things thev do not really neecl?

Do totr think./ttshion models shoulcl be usecl to sell procluc'ts suc'h as cars'?

Some ./ashion ruoclels refilse to aclvertise proclucts involving anirnal crueltt,,such as fitr c'outs. Woulcl ycru hut, such proclucts'?

What trctditionul costurnes do people /iom your countrtt v'ear'?

Are some people nK)re ./ashion c,ottsciotts than oÍhers,? What 1ype's/gt.tltt1ls of'people are thev'?

35

Answer Kev Practice Test 2

Readins Part I

Reading Paft 2

Wr i t i ng2 -Pa r t I

For many peopleo a pet is their best friend and they enjoy their companionship.Despite what dog lovers may believe, cats make excellent house-pets.

Firstly, many cats are affectionate. They will snuggle up and ask to be petted, orscratched under the chin. Who can resist a purring cat'J Cats are generally quite playful.They love to chase balls and feathers, or just about anything dangling from a string. Theyespecially enjoy playing when their owners are participating in the game.

Secondly, cats are civil ized members of the household. Most cats don't even meow veryoften, generally they are quiet animals. Cats also don't often have "accidents". Mothercats train their kittens to use the litter box. and most cats wil l use it without fail from thatt ime on.

Finally, one of the most attractive features of cats as house-pets is their ease of care. Catsdo not have to be walked; they take care of their own grooming and clean themselves. Inaddition, cats can be left at home alone for a few hours without fear of them destroyingthe furnishings. They are content to go about their usual activities until their ownersreturn.

Cats are low maintenance, civil ized cornpanions and many people opt to have a catbecause they love the cat personality. In many ways, cats are the ideal house-pet.

0 I 2 3 4 J 6 7 8 9 10True x X X x xFalse X X X XNot Stated X x

0 I 2 3 4 3 6 7 8 9 10I f c m í, b h I a e I

36

(210 words)

Writins - Part 2 model answer

l6 Mount Street

The ManagerWiltshire ElectronicsMarlbourghWiltshireMA4 8HJ

Dear Sir,

Reference: Invoice Nurnber 2563/model ABC Television

SalisbLrryWiltshireSP2 6GH

25'r ' June 2OO1

On the 10'h June 20071 1bought a television set from your North Road, Sal isburybranch. Now, only 2 weeks after I bought it, the television is defective, as the soundfunctions are not fully operating and the display colours are fuzzy and out of focus.

I returned to the shop and complained to Mr Brown, the shop rnanager. I was told that asI had not returned the goods within 7 days, I could not get a refund from them, and that itwas now the manufacturer who had to rectify the problem under the guarantee.

I do not agree with this. Legally, you are required to supply goods of a satisfactoryquality. I must be given a reasonable length of time to examine the goods beforeaccepting thern. I think that 14 days is sti l l to be considered as a reasonable time toexamine the goods. These faults mean that the television was not of a satisfactory qualityand that you are legally responsible to rectify the problem.

Fufther, as I bought the goods from you, nymanufacturer. Therefore, I am notifying you that Iyou breaking your contract with me, and requestdays of the date of this letter.

Yours faithfully.

M.P. Jones

contract is with you, not with theam rejecting the goods on the basis ofa full refund of mv rnonev within 14

37

( 218 wo rd s )

Listenins - Parl l Do you want to be a sp!- ......?

Intell igence - what does it mean? The word "intell igence" has two main meanings inE,nglish. First, it can mean'omental capacity. " But "intell igence" also means information.For example, we can talk about "rnarket intelligence" - and that means, informationabout what is happening in a market, such as the stock market. Very often, we use"intell igence" to mean information which is secret, or which has been obtained il legally.Many governments have "intell igence services", which collect secret information aboutother countries. or about the govenlment's opponents at home. Intell igence servicesemploy agents - or. to use the more nonnal word, spies.

To spy on someone means to watch them secretly, without them knowing.A few days ago, an advert appeared in the jobs section of the newspaper which I read."Don't keep your intell igence secret!" it said. It was an advertisement for jobs in theBritish Secret Intell igence Service - the SIS or. as it is sometimes known, MI6. It was anadvertisernent for spies. Many years ago, I worked in British Embassies in the MiddleEast and in Scandinavia. In the Embassies. there were some diplomats who were from theSecret Intel l isence Service (SIS).

I do not know how the SIS recruited people to work for them in those days. Perhaps theyapproached people in secret, and invited them to secret interviews with secret people.In those days, too, the narne of the head of the SIS was never made public. He wasknorvn only as "C".

But nowadays it is different. The SIS advertises for spies in the newspapers, and even hasa website which tells you what the SIS does and what sort of people it wants to recruit.And we know that the head of the SIS is called John Scarlett. He is well-known inBritain. In his previous job, he advised our government that it was OK to say that SaddamHussein had weapons of mass destruction. The fact that he was completely wrongobviously did his career no harm. But that's how many organisations work - if you are ajunior employee and you make a big mistake, they sack you. If you are a senior person,they promote you.

(362 words)

38

0. ,nentűI

l. information about sontething2. secret information3. vlatch people secretly4. advsvlissd in dail1, nev,spepers5. v,hat the SIS doesf. b recruit7. v,ell knov,n8. he gave the wrong inJbrmation9. u .senior person i.s10. promoted and not sacked

Listening - Part 2 Sport and Money

First speakerI think professional athletes do make too much money, just by comparison with otherprofessions, for example teachers, who I think are a lot rnore important with the job thatthey do. They don't get paid enough and then you have people who are just playing agame and they get paid so much money and I think it's a little unfair.

Second speakerI think athletes, they don't make too much money, because they're playing exactly what,they're playing their favourite sports and they enjoy what they do. However, I heardabout the NHL in Canada, the hockey, and they're asking for more money, and moremoney, and I think it's, they should just take the money that they have because they get alot of money already. They shouldn't keep asking for more money.

Third speakerI think athletes make far too much money, especially footballers. This is soccer playersfor those people who speak American English. I think that people l ike nurses, doctors,teachers; they should be getting more money, not people who play sport.

Fourth speakerI think professional players do deserve the money they get. They're portraying theirimage publicly and risking their bodies to entertain us and there's a lot of money that goesinto it, why shouldn't they reap the benefits? Why should the owners, or the people thatare making profits in other areas, when they're doing all the work, reap all the benefits?

Fifth speakerYes, I certainly think, especially professional footballers earn much too much money.One guy called Rio Ferdinand just signed a contract for I 1 0,000 pounds, per week andthat's more money than I'll ever earn in my entire life, so I don't think that's fair.

39

Sixth speakerAh, no, I don't think they make too much money. I think athletes deserve all the moneythey get. I mean they make a lot of money, and it seems crazy that they make so muchmoney, but the bottom line rs so many people watch their games buy their jerseys. Buytickets to follow them, l isten to them on radio, so they bring in a lot of revenue, and theyare the reason that people watch them so they should get all the money that they earn.Maybe they should give a l ittle more to charity or - you know - give some of the moneyback to communities, but yeah, I think they deserve the money they get.

Note: NM - Not ment ioned by any speaker

Opinion Speaker I z 3 4 J 6 NM

0' Teachers are more ímportant X

l . Sports people earn too rnuch moneyX X X

2. They earn enough money X

3. They should be paid more X

4. They should stop asking for moreX

5. Doctors and teachers should be paid ffroreX X

6. They deserve what they get X X

40

T TSfiJ frJITSYUd

Reading (45 minutes/2S marks)

Read tlte text below. The second pa.rt of each pűragrgph is missing J.rom thepossoge. You can find them after the text. wítte tiu ipp,,p,iiin o",,,ers into theboxes after the text. The firsi (0) has been done a, ai eximple. There are threepqragrűph endings which you will not neecl.

Example: 0

Why has tlre i l legal use of drugsthere is one single cause, and theprescription as tranquil l isers andand alcohol. tDl

become an epidemic worldwide? It is unlikel y thatdemand for i l legal drugs is paralleled by their legalsedatives, and by the entirely legal use of tobacco

The .professor of addiction behaviour at the University of London,s Institute ofPsychiatry writes: I l l

Being u.{lug,taker means being someone for the.young person [or old person, onemight a!d] who does not otherr,'iise know who he ií whít he is worth, or where he isgoing. [21

A drug taker becomes a member of a group. [31

Even somerhing like glue-sniffing is nearly always a group activity.[41

With time, arld increasing dependence on the drug, the need becomes physical aswell as psychological. The hunger must be assuaged, no matter how expensively.ts l

Government agencies l iave largely ignored the social reasons for addiction. [ó|

They have attacked the growers and the smugglers. By and large, their efforts havenot been crowned with much success. l7l

In Malaysia, draconian laws have hanged 30 heroin dealers in the past five years andput another 40 on death row awaiting the noose. Despite these laws, 3.5 per cent ofMalaysia's population take the drug.[gl

However, on America's own doorstep, in the Bahamas, the world's first moderndrug epidemic has taken place. It is an epidemic that has spread in the past year tothe United States. l9 l

Many are teenagers, hooked inside l0 minutes of their first introduction to drugs by..Íiee-basing,'. Free-basing is a lethal method of smoking a ..rock,' of cocaine that is80 per cent proof, compared with 30 per cent from sniffing.[l0l

42

A. Rich, poor, rock star or film star they are all role models.

B. At this point drug-taking becomes not only antisocial but probably criminal, as theaddict steals to support his habit .

C. It seems that drugs are to be had everywhere.

B. Yon becomemotivation in any

a narcotics addíct because you do not have strong enoughother direction. Junk wins bv default.

E. Once a member of the group, outside the normal structure of family and work, hehas nowhere else to go.

F. Most of them, as elsewhere, are in their teens and early twenties, although, of course,drug users cannot be expected to l ive to a ripe old age. Apart from local police forces,governments s ign agreements to control the trade. as between. for example. the UnitedStates and Pakistan or India.

G. Crime, large inner-city housing estates and a large number of unemployed youngpeople.

H. In the Bahamas more than l0 per cent of the population are addicts.

I. Life in the inner city seems to be just one big round of drug taking parties. .

J. The individual becomes dependent not only on the drug itself but also upon the otherpeople within the drug-taking group. He needs their support.

K. On the street, it is the small time dealer who is caught. The big boys get awayevery time.

L. When the habit spread to New York, the substance became known as "crack".Crack is instantly addictive. and the addict, as usual. requires rapidly increasingquantities. Being addicted to free-basing is just about a^s deadly as-contractingAIDS. You don't have much life left.

M. In general. perhaps, addicts, both legal and il legal, are children. They areinsecure, dependent. They need to escape responsibil ity.

N. In such places, the Anrerican governm.ent. uses all possible- means of economicpersuasion to put pressure on countries which tolerate the drug trade.

0 I ,, 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 l 0D

43

Part 2 ( 12.5 marks)

Read the text below and then Jinislt the sentences with words according to the text. An

example is sltown as (0) below.

Wind Farms

Members of ecology groups and representatives of the renewable energy industry heard

solne very good news this week. The British government announced plans to invest f6

bi l l ion in developing wind power. This could create 20,000 jobs and, at the same t ime,

provide energy for one in six households by 2010. The government announced that a

second set of l icences would be granted to companies wanting to develop offshore wind

power. They said that this was part of the governntent's plan to generate l0% of the

country's electricity fronr greenhouse gas-Íiee mealls by the end of the decade.

The licensing authority hopes to attract 6,000 megawatts of offshore capacity. The cost of

developing 6,000 MW is expected to be about l6bn and to create 20,000 jobs in the

engineer ing and construct ion sectors.

The British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) welcomed the news. "We are sixth in the'uvorld in the use of wind power behind countries such as Germany, Spain and Denmark,

but at the same time we are the windiest country in Europe. We have the best offshore

experlise and workforce, and all of this can be used to make Britarn the world leader in

this new industry." said Alison Hil l, a BWEA spokeswoman. But the organisation also

warnecl that there 'uvould be problelns connecting remote wind schemes with the national

grid. There might also be additional costs because of political unceftainty, and there

could be opposition from the Ministry of Defence to plans to build turbines. The BWEA

rvants the governt'tretrt to conÍ.trm recently published govenlment plans for tlre UK to

obtain 20'% of its electricity from renewables by 2020.

At the sante time as the plans to develop wind power were announced, it was learnt that

the cost of decommissioning the country's nuclear power stations could be double the

or ig inal est imate, cost ing Br i t ish taxpayers f3.2 bi l l ion. Br i t ish Nuclear Fuels (BNFL)

said that i t could not put a def in i te cost on the decommissioning of a l l e ight plants

because it had only worked out the costs for the first two.

Stricter regulatiorrs and the Í-act tlrat the original estitrrates were made 10 years ago are

believed to be the causes of the rapidly rising costs. BNFL originally earmarked f380m

to run down Hinkley Poirrt nuclear power station, closed in 2000, and Bradwell, which

rvas shut down last year. It has now been Íbrced to put aside a fur1her f,415m.

Example:

0. The f6 bi l l ion investment in developing wind power . . .will create 20,0AA jobs and provide energjt for one in six households.

44

The investment is part of the sovernnrent 's plan . . .

2 . Most iobs would be in . . .

3. Although Britain is the windiest country in Europe. ...

4. Br i ta in could become a world leader in the use of wind power because . . .

5 . Plans to br"ri ld turbines ...

6 . Renewables might provide . . .

1 . The cost of decommissioning nuclear power stat ions . . .

8 . The risins costs have been caused bv

BNFL cannot state the total costs involved because . . .

10. Whi lst only two nuclear power stat ions have been c losed

Writing (75 minutes/2S marks)

Part 1 fl2.5 marks)

Write a short article.for ))our school magazine outlining ))our views on animals in zoos.Include the.follorvirrg points irt )tour discussion:

o Thoughts ytltt ltad about visitittg 0 í,oo w,hen J,ou were ))oung.. Artirttals irt cages; ltow tlo 1,ou.feel about tltot?o How do dffirent climates aJJbc'Í animals living in zoos?o Is ű ?,o0 educution or is it entertainment?o Issues to do with.freedom.

Write your art ic le here (about 200 words).

I can remember my parents taking me to London Zoo

5

l 0

l 5

20

46

Write a letter to u tvirtdorv ittstollatiott corrtltany outlining a faulty installotign that thel,have carried out ot ytlur honrc. Iclentify problems with the Jbllowing űspects:

o utut'e of the problen (water leaks, poor workmunship, etc.)t Problems not resolved a.fier nrany telephone calls.o In breach oJ'contract; withhotding.final payment.o Work must be completed witltin 2I clays or you will Jind a new contracÍor trl

,,ectiÍy probIems.Write your letter here (about 200 words).

On 4th April 2007,your company installed replacement doubf. gf-.6 pfurti.windows and doors at the above address.

47

Listening

Part I

about 30 minutes/2S marks

fl2.5 marks)

2.

You ure going to hear an interview with two people talking ubout living in an ice hut.First, look at the sentences below. As you listen, complete each of the numberedsentences (I -10) with u .few words (max. 5). The Jirst (0) has been done as an exumple.

You huve 30 seconds to read the questions below. You will hear the interview twice.

During tlte first listening, do as much os you can and complete or correct your workduring the second listening. LISTEIV CAREFLlLLy.

Exarnple:0. The Mclntyres had to stay for one year because they were iced-in.

l . It is difficult to get to because there is only a

The hut was chained to a rock

3. The lowest average temperature

7 ,

The wind chil l factor meant that the

Inside the hut, the coldest temperaturerecorded

Food was pre-prepared and relatively 'high

t e ch ' be i ng

They had a wide variety of meals as therewere

8. They also took with then-r lots of other foodsuch as:

9. During the year they stayed in the hut, theyate

10. Kerosene stoves and larnps and solar power

4 .

5 .

6 .

48

Part 2 Í2.5 marks)

You ure goirtg to lteur 6 people giving their opinions about lit'b toduy. First, Iook ut thetable below and read the statements. As you listen, decide which speaker voices theopinion stutement. Put an X in the uppropriute speuker,s c,olutttn ageúnst that opittiott.The.first (0) hus been completed as an example.

Some speokers will express nrore than one opiuion, in this case pluce an X in theapproprictte speaker's colruttns ugainst tltut opinion.

Two opinion statements will be mentioned by none oJ'the speukers. Put an X in the trlMcolun n .fbr those opirtions.

You have 30 seconds to resd the statements below.

You tvill hear the recording twice. Do as much as you can cluring the./irst listening andcontplete or correct your work during the second listening. LISTEIV CAREFIILLy.

Note: NM - Not mentioned by any speaker

Op in ion Speaker 1 2 3 4 J NM0. Technology,communicationsmakingthings better

X X X

l . We are better infornted

2. We are not better people

3. People are more interested in each other4. Everyone pulls together

5. People aren't getting along any betterwith each other

6. First. overcome the problerns then yes itwi l l be better

1. People are not wil l ing to fight for whatthey be l ieve in

8 . Peop le do he lp each o ther

49

Oral Communication

Part I Introduction

Part 2 Guided conversation

about 20 minutes

Some people belicvc that cars are useful and necessary. Othcrs believe tl lat cars causeproblerrs that afTect our hcalth and well-beiug. Which position do you support' l GivespcciÍic leasons fot yortr anslvcr.

Part 3 Picture description/topic based on visual stimuli

50

Possible Ouestions

Do yott think everybsil, should practic'e sports'?Do vot,t think doing sporÍ,s help's people v,ork beÍÍer as a teant uÍ v,ork,?Do vou think that the olvntpic's are imptlrÍunÍ, or hat,e Íhere been Íoo tltan):negative ts.ylte.s (u'se o.f'perf'onttant'e-enhanc,ing clntg's, c,orrupt ludges) itt t.cc,enÍhistory'?How do vott .feel about extrerne sports'? Woultl you like to trt: uny of'these'?|,I/hat SporÍ do -l,tltt Íhink is the nul,sÍ dun,qerort,s'?[s it good that pro./bs.sional sport i.s so corttmet't'iul now.acluys'?Which is nore important in sport - w,inning nr taking part? Are vouloser'?Do people in .vour CortnÍr), clo erulugh 'sport or tlo 7791, pref-er to v,atc'ltplal,conrytuter games'? Hov'coultl vou encoltt'(tge lazy people to do ntore

o

o

o

o

O

a

o a gootl

TI/ untl'spot.Í,?

51

Answer Key

Reading - Part I

Practice Tests 3

0 I 2 3 4 5 6 7 I 9 r0D F M E J B G K N H L

o seo :

Readins - Part 2

0 ... will create 20,000 jobs and provide energy for one in six households.I . . . to generate l0o/o of the country 's energy from renewable sources.2 . . . the engineer ing and construct ion sectors.3 . . . other countr ies make much more use of wind power.

4 ... it has the best oÍfshore expertise and workforce.

5 . . . could be opposed by the Ministry of Defence.6 . . .20o of the UKos electr ic i ty by 2020.7 . . . could be twice as much as or ig inal ly expected.8.. . str icter regulat ions.9 ... because it has only worked out the cost for the first two stations.l0 .. the cost of making them safe is verv high.

Writing - Part 1 Model answer

I can remember my parents taking me to London Zoo when I was rnuch younger. Iremember thinking how great i t was. someone had brought al l of these animals f iom al lover the world and put them in a zoo for my entertainment. Now, as I have grown older ithas becor-ne c lear to me: animals should not be caued for our entertainment.

Most animals in zoos wil l never knolv how living free t-eels. A lot of animals caged inzoos are taken out of their natural environrnent and clirnate. These animals are oftenforced to l ive in climates they are not adapted to or even capable of adapting to. Onegood example of this is the polar bear. Polar bears are animals that are used to sub-zerotemperatures and putting them in a place like London, where the ternperature can reach25"C is cruel. For an animal l ike the elephant, however, it is the opposite. Elephants areused to tropical temperatures year round. But some elephants are forced to l ive in placeswhere the temperature is below freezing for months.

As a child, I did not think twice about how the animals must feel, trapped in those srnallcages. But now as I am learnin-e more about freedom; and about being able to choose tolive lrow [ 'uvish, I am forced to take a step back and look at these caged animals. I realizethey have the same desire for Íieedom as I do. Putting rnyself in their shoes, I have alsocome to realize that caging animals for enterlainrnent is wrong.

52

(254 words)

The ManagerThe Fast Wir-rdow CompanyEast TonbridgeSussexTO7 3 RT

Dear Sir .

89 Wi l low 'End Roac lWest Ma l l ingSussexW M 8 5 D S

5 ' r 'May 2OO l

Double Glaz ing Instal lat ion at 89 Wi l low End RoadInvoice Nurnber: 362514 dated 4'r' April 2007

On 4'h April 2087, your company installed replacement doutrle glazed plastic

windows and doors at the above address. It was immediately clear that theinstallation was faulty, as rain camc tl-rrough the kitchen door ancl the window in the mainbedroom the next day. This situation continues today. I have contacted you by phonethree times and each tir-ne you promisecl to visit and pr,rt thc fault right, but to date it hasnot been resolved.

I arn entitled to expect work to be carried out using reasonable care and skil l, ancl alsoany materials used should be of a satist-actory qr-rality and fit fbr the pLrrpose. Obviously.this is not the case and because of these faults, I now consider you to be in breach ofcontract. As there is an outstanding balance of f 1,000 tbr this contract, I intend towithhold payrnent to you until the work is rectit-ied by your company.

If th is is not done within 2l days Íiorn t l re date of this letter. I wi| l er l -rploy anothcrcontractor to rectify the probIel-n, and use the outstalrdiIlg balance to Ílnarlce tlris work.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours Í-aithfirl ly,

G .K . Po l lock

53

( 238 wo rds )

Listening - Part 1

InterviewerImagine paying more than 150.000 dollars to spend a year with your partner in a freezinghut rn the Antarctic, cut off frorn tl 're rest of the world, with no chance of early escapefrom a place where the wind blows so hard. your tiny l ittle home has to be chained to arock. Well, that's exactly what Don and Maggie Mclntyre from Australia decided to do in1996. And having got permission fi 'onr the Antarctic Survey to keep their hut at CapeDennison until 2003, the Mclntyres are now offering other couples the chance to spend ayear alone together in ternperatures well below zero - but why a whole year]

WomarrIt had to be a year because Antarctica actually all ices in. So all of the seas around CapeDettnison start to freeze over and there is also a big reign of pack ice that's out, youknou'. can staft about 60 kilometres out from Antarctica and come all the way in. So thereis only about a six-week window where you can actually get into Cape Dennison andbecause it is the windiest place on the earth, it is very difficult to get to.

IntervierverI anl shuddering as yoLr speak, I mean, where you were staying during all this time'/

WomanIn our l ittle hut, which was 3.6 meters by 2.4 meters and2.4 meters high, so it was just ahome away from home?

InterviewerIt sor,rnds l ike a slightly larger than usual fridge.

ManWell, ln fact it was rnodelled on an inland refrigerator that they used to store kangaroocarcasses in Australia and it was chained to the rocks so that it would not blow away,becattse the winds do get up to over 300 kilometres an hour', or 350 kilornetres an hour.And that was part of our fear for the entire year. We didn't really know whether we wouldget blown away and whether we would survive. So right through, for the first ninenlonths, we didn't know whether its was gonna - whether we would be there at the end ofthe year or not.

IrtterviewerSo how low did the thermometer fa l l dur ins that t ime?

WomanMinus 34 degrees Celsius was the lowest actual temperature that we had, we dicl have onereading which was minus 40, but we think that it might have been, you know, l ike a spikeor something wrong with our thermometer, but the wind chil ls were down to probablynrinus 80, minus 90 degrees Celsius, so it did get cold. The coldest temperature inside thehut rvas minus 18 degrees Cels ius and that just becomes a bit annoying.

54

lnterviewerNow you said that the house that you were staying in, or the slightly larger than usualÍiidge, was originally designed to store kangaroo carcasses in. Now prósumably youdidn't have any of those with you, what clid you take?

ManWe had lots of high tech food" we had sonre pre-prepared l ieals, cal lec l "shelf-table, ,meals, they are packaged in a special way and there was about twenty two diÍ-ferentvarieties. We also took sotne fiozen meat in with us, sol'ne fiozen vegetables, a lot of riceand pastas, salamis, dried fruit and nuts, tin fish, tin fruit. We ate par-ticularly wellactually, for the entire year. Kerosene was our forrn of heating and cooking and lightingand we used a lot of solar power as well. So we hacl rnore than enough energy suppliesthen.

words)the seas were frozen-over.

l . six-w,eek v'indow to get in/out.

to stop it blov,ing arrut,.

\t)a.J re('ot"decl a.s -34"C

teruperatLtre \i,us often -80, -90''c

w'as ninus I B clegrees Celsius

ő. packaged in a ,spec,iul w,ct.|,

7. abouÍ Ív,enÍ):-Íyt,o tlif/.erent t,ttrieÍie.s

d. rice, pasttts,, SttIumis, tlriec{ uncl ÍinnetI.ftnd

9. particularl.v v,ell

10. strpplied heating. cooking ancl tighring

Listerrins - Part 2 Is the world a better place?

First speakerls the world a better place./ Wel l . I do think so because of i rrÍluences such as the Interrretand globalization and growing interest in intercultr.rral sommunication so people are moreinterested in each other, whereas befbre people were tnore introverted and inwardlooking, especia l ly in is land countr ies.

J.

4,

5.

55

Second speakerI think the world is becorning a worse place. It seems l ike. you know, weapons arebecoming more advanced and people aren't getting along any better so with everyonehaving access to al l these advanced weapons maybe things wi l l come to a head and weprobably won't be here very lnuch longer.

Third speakerIs the rvorld becoming a better or worse place'/ That's a very, very difficult question, andI'm not really sure of the answer, but one thing I am sure of is that because of theincreases in conrmunications and technology, Í-ar more peopIe are aware of bad eventsthat happen in the world, compared to say. a hundred years ago, so maybe it seems like aworse pIirce. but rnaybe t|rirt's jr.rst becauSe we are better inÍbrrrred.

Fourth speakerI think this world is becorning somewhat a better place in respect to technologyadvancemer-rts. And with the technology advancernents, medications and diseases can becured a lot fasterand better. However, of course we st i l l have gotthe wars going on, l raqwars and nrany, maybe c iv i l r .vars as wel l . which is not so good. but I th ink we canovercolre thern ancJ the rvor ld wi l l become a better place.

Fifth speakerUm, I think the world is becorning a better place in some areas and a worse place in someareas. When it comes to technology and advancements, definitely better. When it comesto humanity and being better people, I th ink in a lot of areas i t 's gett ing worse. I th ink alot of people are nrore concerned aboLrt thenrselves than other people 's u,el fare.

Sixth speakerI think unfoftunately the world is becorning a worse place to l ive in. I wish it werebecorning better and that people would get on with each other and forget aboutdifferences but I think we're going in the opposite direction. I don't know what we can doto charnge it. It seerrrs l ike people want a better world br-rt too few people are wil l ing toactual ly stand up and do something abor"rt what they bel ieve in. (400 words)

56

,-

Note: NM |loÍntenÍionecl speuker

Opinion I 2 3 4 5 6 NM

a.Technolog,,, communications making things

better

X X X

II Ile are better infbrmecl X

2. Ift, tlt.t, rulÍ lrctIet. pt,tlple X

J. People are more inÍerestecl in euc.h oÍher X

4. Everv-one pulls together X

5. People uren,Í geÍ|ittg ulong uny fio1,o,"v,ith

each other

X X X

6. Fir 'st, Over('oi lye the pt.oblem,s then ve's iÍ u,i lI

be better

_\'

7 People are not w'illittg to /igltt /rtr u'hut the.t,

believe in

Y/ l

B. People do help eac'h other X

7 JSflT flJITJYUd

Reading (45 minutesl2S marks)

Part I (12.5 marks)

Read the text below and then Jinish the sentences according to the pűssqge. The first(0) has been done as on example.

It is known as the "king of wines" and has been a favourite of princesses and tsars. poetsand presidents for centuries. But now the future of Hungary's Tokaj vineyards has comeunder a cloud - from a vast power plant.

Wine makers and politicians in north-eastern Hungary are furious about the plans, whichwould see a nearby coal-fired power station, with a chimney half as tall as the EiffelTower, emitting an estimated four mill ion tonnes of pollutants each year. The proposedstation is not even in their country. It is being planned in the small Slovakian town ofTrebisov, across the border from Hungary. Tokaj, a World Heritage site which has beenfamous throughout Europe since the l Tth century for its sweet Sauternes-like winesknown as Tokaii, is just downwind. Slovakian authorities are expected to decide todaywhether to give the final go-ahead to the 885-megawatt power plant, which would be thecountry's largest coal-fired power station.

But south of the border in HungalY. in the town of Sátoraljaújhely' a vigorous campaignis under way to block the development. Péter Számosvölgyi, the mayor' has beenlobbying the Hungarian government to force it to intervene with Slovakia.

For Hungary's struggling wine makers. recovering from decades of mismanagementunder communist rule, news of the power plant is a fresh and unwelcome blow. Onlynow are they rnanaging to restore the kind of quality to their vintages that once sawTokaji hailed by Louis XIV as "a wine for kings, and the king of wines".

Its secret is not just in the grapes, but also in the botrytis fungus that infects them. Aswith Yquem it is known as "noble rot" for its sweetening qualities. Though Yquemclairns to have been the first to discover the magical properlies of noble rot in 1847, theHungarian growers behind Tokaji say they were two centuries ahead of their Frenchcolleagues. Legend claims that the 1650 wine harvest in Tokaj was abandoned as localsfled Ottoman incursions. When they returned the grapes had, they say, rotted; fortuitouslyproviding the first sweet Tokaji wines. Now campaigners say that heritage is at risk.

Environmental groups on both sides of the Hungary-Slovakia border say that emissionsfrom the plant could upset the chernical composition of the soil and even affect the localclimate. That would be disastrous for Tokaj, whose hot summers and cool winters areideally suited forthe production of its award-winning grapes. Bottles of Tokaji have lor-rgbeen found on the best and most select tables.

60

But until the latest Slovakian plans, it was Russianposed the biggest threat to the vineyards. That wasregion, which required many of the closely packedmove about.

deployments of a different kind thatthe delivery of Soviet tractors to thevines to be uprooted so they could

Example: 0. The future of Hungary's Tokaj vineyards is threatened bv a new

The power station is not in Hungary but

2. Tokaj, known for its sweet sauternes-like sweet wine, rs

3. The region will be affected because the power station is

4. The mayor of Tokaj has been

5 . The power plant is a fresh and unwelcome blow

6 . The vintage quality of Tokaji wines is

l . A French vineyard claims to have discovered 'noble rot' in 1847, but

8 . lt is feared that emissions from the plant will

9. The production of grapes in Tokaj relies on the hot summers and cool winters so

10. Soviet tractors posed the last threat to the vineyards because

61

Part 2 (12.5 marks)

Read the Jbllowing instructiorts of the uction to be taken in the following emergencies.Read thent carefully. For each instruction put an X in the table d the informution isittcluded. The same űnswer ruay be needed ,nore than once for either the treatmentinstructio,,s or the emergenc),,. The.first (0) has been elone űs a,, example.

HeatBum

( A )

ElectricalBurn

( B )

Shock

(c )

SnakeB i tes

( D )

UpsetStornach

(E )

Exposure(to the

Elements)( F )

CarbonMonoxidePo ison ing

( G )

0. do not touchsolneone x

L avo id g iv ingsolr leone too mnch tod r i nk

2. put a b lankct underthem

3. open the 'nv ' i r tdowsand doors

4. protect the patientÍiorn sunIight

5. drink steri l ised water

6. observe t l ie v ic t im'sbreathinÍI carefir||v

7. do not app lynredication

8. restr ict thec i rcu lat ion of the b lood

9. do not take away anyc loth ing

10. a l low a i r to get tothe rvound

62

A. Heat BurnDo not remove any clothing from an area which has beer-r burned as this rnay lead toinfection of the burnt area. Do not rvash or apply any cream or paste. Apply a clrydressing which slrould be leÍt exposed' brrt protected fi.orn sunlight. The belief that airmust be completely excluded from a burn is wrong. as is the practice of applyingointments to the burn. Do not prick blisters.

B. Electr ical BurnIf possible, turn ofT the electric current. or rel-nove the victir 'n Íiorrr the curretrt. Do nottouch him direct lv or with anvthinÍr metalI ic or wet whi le he is st i l I in contact wit l r thel ive out let.

C. ShockIf the burn vict im is in shock, lay him on his back and make hirn cor l fortable and coverthe burn with a dry dressing. He should be protected frorn chil l ing. He should be allowedto sip, but not gulp. If necessary. give the liquid by the spoonful to avoid gulping.

D. Snake BitesThe victim should be put on their back and movement of any sorl should be prevented. Atourniquet should be applied round the limb between the bite and the hear1, and tighteneduntil the veins stand out. If the l imb becomes blue. loosen the bancl a l ittle. In themeantime, raise the bitten limb to reduce circulation.

E. Upset StomachIf the person is sick repeatedly, do not let hrnr eat any solid food for 24 hours. He shoulddrink only boiled or bottled water. If he has to go to the bathroom constantly, he slrouldbe given an alkaline mixture, such as kaolin, obtained from the chernist. He should takeone tablespoonful every four hours.

F. Exposure to tlre Elements (v,eaÍher cllntlition's)A person suffering frotn Severe aIr<l prolonged exposllre (/i.tlttt Íhe elanwll.r/ slrould beadmitted to hospital as soon as possible. In the meantirne, place blankets both under andover the victim to prevent chil l ing. Do not apply artif icial warmth.

G. Carbon Monoxide Poisonin-rlGet the victirn out of the poisonous atmosphere, or if in a car, open zrl l windorvs and doorsafter turning off the engine. If he is sti l l breathing, it is sufficient to watch him to ensurethat breathing continues until medical help arrives. lf he is not breathing, apply arlif icialrespiration at once.

63

Writing (75 minutes/2S marks)

Part l (12.5 marks)

A large part of the scientific world believes that human cloning is the next natural step

for us to take, snd that it will help to Jind cures Jbr many diseases. Do you think thatresearch into cloning should be allowed to continue? Give reasons to support J)ouranswer in respect of the Jbllowing:

o Finding cures Jbr műny diseuses. (Stem cell research). Cloning people/unimals - should we allow this?. Physical/Psychologicul elJbcts oJ'cloning.o Respect/Ethical issues - playing God; vulue of human liJb.

Write your essay here (about 200 words).

ln my opinion, cloning is useful for research into cures for diseases.

5

l 0

l 5

20

64

Part 2 (12.5 marks)Write a letter to your local countyl cottncil complaining abouÍ a dangerous stretclt of

road where you live. Write a letter with the.fitllowing aspects:o Describe where the road is and what is nearby.. Who is ut risk and Jrom what (cars, lorries, heavy traJJic)?. Speed limits in the ureű _ too ltiglt.o l{o Panda/Zebra crossing points.o Problems with the pavenents.. Suggest traffic calming ,neasures (speed lintits, speed hutttps, pedestriun

saÍety).

Write your letter here (about 200 words).

I am writing to draw your attentíon to a dangerous stretch of road

5

l 0

l 5

65

Listening

Part I

about30 minutes/2S marks

(12.5 marks)You are going to hear a prograntnte on tnűnners in our socie$. First, look at thesentences below. As you listen, choose the best ending.for the sentences. The first (0)

has been done űs űn exumple.

You will have 30 seconds to resd the questions below. Yott will hear the conversution

twice. Do as much űs Jtou can in the./irst listening und complete qnd correct your work

during the second listening. LISTEI{ CAREFIJLLY.

l . ln business, the nrore senior you area. the politer you areb. the ruder your arec. makes no difference to most people

2. Parents when talk ing to their chi ldren:a. do not realise that they are being rudeb. are always rude to themc. know when to be rude to them

3. Bad role n-rodels are found in:a. t i iendsb. sports peoplec. parents

4. The interviewer thinks that people using mobi le phones are:a. k ind and considerate to othersb. do not consider other peoplec. speak too loudly when using a mobi le phone

5. Druci l la thinks that peoplea. are using mobi le phones intel l igent lyd. do not l isten to t l ternselves when usins a n-robi lee. are rnost ly unintel l igent

6. Br i t ish people, according to the art ic le:a. are strong silent typesb. want to ta lk a l l the t i r lcc . do not l i ke ta lk ins a t a l l

E rample:0. The interviewer thinks that:a. you need to be rude to be successÍtrlb. parents are confident in bringing up their childrenc'. children should not hold the door open for others.

66

7 . The rules Íbr using rrrobile plrones n]ean:a. trying not to make so much noise that it disturbs other peopleb. speaking up, as other people are interested in your conversationsc. do not use your mobi le phone in publ ic

8. John thinks that:a. people are always nrde to each other at workb. you are only rude if the other persorl thinks that you are being rudec. we easily accept rudeness as being acceptable in our society

9. John thinks that rudeness isa . peop le ' sexpress ionsb. people being inconsideratec. people 's pr inc ip les

shown by:

towards each other

10. The speakers suggest that:a. people who are polite are l ikedb. people do not l ike politeness to be shown towards thernc. impolite people are not l iked

67

Part 2 (12.5 marks)

You are going to ltear a report about plastic rubbislt. First, Iook at the sentencesbelow. As yott listen, cornplete each oJ'the numbered sentences (I-10) with aJbw w,ords(max. 5). The first (0) has been done űs an example.

Yott ltuve 30 seconds to read the c1uestions below. You w,iII lteur Íhe reporÍ twice.

During tlte first lisÍening, do as ntuclt as J',ou cgtt gttd complete or correct your workduring the second listening. LISTEMAREFULLY.

Exantple:0. Plast ic rubbish in our seas and oceans k i l ls over 100.000

sea birds, whales, seals and furtles.

l . Some of the rubbish comes from shios. when

2. But most plast ic rubbish ends up in the sea because

3. Plastic can be cheap and useful stuff, but

4. The marin problem with plastic is that over tin-re it accumulates in theenv i ronnren l

5. We use plast ic bags and containers

6. You can recycle plast ic, but most of i t is

l. In lrish sllpermarkets vou have to

B. Ordinary people need to take the in i t iat ive themselves, because the government

(). Rebecca Hosking convinced shopkeepers to stop

10. Now, Moclbury is famous; i t 's the f i rst town to

68

C)ral Communication

Part 1 Introduction

Part 2 Guided conversation

about 20 minutes

lnventions such as spectacles and the sewing machine have had an important effect onour lives. Choose another invention that you think is important. Give specific reasons foryour choice.

Part 3 Picture description/topic based on visual stimuli

69

Possible questions

o Nante .some renev'ctble energy solrce.s.o Who should pay.fit" lhe c'osts us.sociuted u'ith renev,able energt,'?

. Shoultl v,e rttcll;e Íhe tlev,elopmenÍ o.f,renev,uble energv, SOLlrCe,s an economic

pt.iorítl,,/o What are some u'A.lfs energ.r' is v'aslecl'?o What tl,pes of'energv ure populat' in your nutive countn,?

o WhaÍ is the ntain problent uith c,ottventional energl) sources,/

o Whut is the muin problent v'i/h renev'able energv ,sources?

70

Answer Kev Practice Tests 4

Readins - Part I

l. in the 'sntttll Slovakian tov'n oÍ'Trebi'srlv

2. a World Heritage site

J. .jtt.st up-ttind of'Tokqj

4. cumpaigning v,igorousll, Ítl bloc,k the tlcy,elopnrcnt

5. ./br struggling v,ine tnakers in Íhe regitltt(t. slov'lt, being intprovecl

7. allegecll.l,, it w,a's 200.l,eur's eal,lier thuÍ the.first 'sv,eet Tokuji yt,ine v,a's

ntudt,

B. upset the c,hemic,ul c,rlmprlsitiotl oÍ'the soil

9. any change o.f climctte v'oulcl l"te clisustrous

10. the closel-,- par:ked vine.s had tct be uprooted

Readins - Part 2

HeatBurn

( A )

ElectricalBurn

( B )

Shock

(c )

SnakeBi tes

( D )

UpsetStornach

( E )

Exposure(to thcElements)

( F )

CarbonMonoxic' lcPo ison ing

( G )

0. do not touchsomeone x

L avo id g iv ingsomeone too much todrink

X

2. put a blanket underthem X

3. open the windowsand doors X

4. protect the patientfrom sunlight X

5. drink steri l ised waterX

71

HeatBurn

( A )

Electr icalBurn

( B )

Shock

(c )

SnakeBites

( D )

UpsetSton-rach

( E )

Exposure(to the

Elernents)( F )

CarbonMonox idePo ison ing

( G )

6. observe thev ic t i rn 's breath ingcare ful ly X

7. do not applyrnedication X

8. restr ict thec i rcu lat ion of theb lood

X

9. clo not take awayany c loth ing X

10. a l low a i r to get tothe wound X

Writing - Part I Model answer

In my opiniono cloning is useful for research into cures for diseases. However, I thinkthat it needs to be approached with caution and carefully monitored by governments.

Research into clonir-rg and stem cell production is primarily aimed at finding newtreatments for currently incurable i l lnesses. While this would improve the quality of l ifefor many, not enough is understood about what effects cloning would have in the future.This is prirnarily because we do not understand enough about the consequences ofcloning. For instance, cloned individuals are l ikely to suffer both physical andpsychological eÍTects, and how does mankind in general feel about cloning, would theyrespect the "cloned person" as a real human?

There are also quite serious ethical issues at stake. In essence, those who are againstcloning would argue that scientists have no right to play God and to interfere with naturalprocesses. Producing ernbryos for the purpose of harvesting stem cells for researchpresents significant qr-restions about the nature and status of the embryo being produced.It rnay also make us question whether discarding it after use reduces the value we placeon hurnan life.

In conclusion, I do not agree that research into cloning using human embryos shouldcontinue. This is not only because it may reduce the value we place on human life, butalso because not enough is known about the consequences. However, I do think that ifthere is a way to produce stem cells using cloning which does not put hun-ran life at risk,then governments should continue to support it. (249 words)

72

Writing - Parl 2 Model answerl2 The LaneChip TownWest SussexCT2 3KL

West Sussex Distr ict Counci l46 Duke's LaneLittle HarnptonWest SussexLH7 5GH

Dear Sir. 4'r'July 2OO7

I am wrÍting to draw your attention to a dangerous stretch of road on South Streetnear the junction with The Marsh in Chip Town. This whole area is most detinitely aserious risk to pedestrians.

The volurne of traffic along between 8.00 arn and 9.00 am coincides with the arrival ofschool children at St. Mary's Junior School on The Marsh. I rnust express my own, andother parents', anxiety at the daily sight of crowds of school children navigating the flowof traffic with no protection.

The speed l imit a long South Street is a nraximum of 30 mi les per hour. ln real i ty carsoften drive along this road far too fast, at 40 to 60 miles per hour, in both directions.Need I say that any car accident, at this speed, involving pedestrians, adults or children,would be horific and possibly fatal.

other nearby amenities inclrrde retirement Ílats and a gift shop. These increase thenumber of pedestrians in the area, who also find the lack of traffic crossing facil it iesalarming. The situation is made more hazardous by narrow pavements, and a bend in theroad causes poor visibil ity of oncoming traffic.

To sum up, some sort of traffic calming scheme is long overdue and much needed here.Alternately" a zebra crossing and rail ings to enclose nearby pavements would protectpedestrians, as well as decreasing the speed of cars. The saf-ety of Chip Town's childrenis at stake and depends upon your swift action.

Yours faithfully,

(Signature block)(233 worcls)

73

Listening - Part I

Interviewer:Lots of people think that you have to be rLrde i f you want to get yoLlrown way these days.Do you think that parents ha'r 'e lost conf idence in teaching their chi ldren horv to be pol i te,because after a l l . you c lon't want your chi ld. do you, to be the one who's holding the dooropen ancl everyone else is rushing through' l

Judy:Wel l t l tat 's the trouble; yol l don't want to breed a wimp these days, do yor"r '/ And I thinkwe do tend to equate rudeness with status anyway. You know I think the higher up yougo the nrcler you caln be secrns to be the thinking these days. I think parents do worry thatthey lv i l l be treated. a lso perhaps brcccl ing something that 's not pol i t ica l ly correct, e i ther.Because I think people don't know whether they should open doors for other people, is i tsexist' l Should they be doing it anyway'J So there is a lot of insecurity, but I think a lot ofparents are unwitt ingly rude to their chi ldren. so they perhaps provide bad role rnodels. Ithink te levis ion provic les bacl ro le n-roclc ls - I th ink a lot of the real i ty TV shows - youknow, we see the winners bcing often the ruclest person, so yeah, parents probably arequite confused these days as to whether they should train children to be polite or not.

I: DrLrc i l la. Whzrt about these new areas of content ion where the rules don't seem to haveeven been writtett yet'/ For example: the rnobile phone'/ lf the rule of thumb is to be - justbe kind and considerate - why dor-r ' t people real ise i t 's okay to use the mobi le perhaps -

why do they have to bcllow dorvrr the thing'l

Druc i l l a :Well. I think unfortunately, a lot of people are extrernely thick, and they don't hearthemselv 'es. But I th ink, one of the rnost interest ing things about the use of mobi le phonesis, that the Br i t is i r were alrvays thoLrght of as being kind of strong and s i lent. Whereas,what we real ly know is that they just long to ta lk a l l the t ime. I th ink i t 's face-to-facecontact that as a nation we find difficLrlt. I think the rules about mobile phones are justreal ly general - u 'h ich is that - I rnean don't a lways disturb the peace. Don't a lwaysassllnte that the fact yor"r know you're getting to wherever yolr're getting on the numberI I bus is going to r ivet to whocver yol l ' re s i t t ing next to.

John:Iti fact, yoLl carl only succeed in being rude if the people you're being rude to takeoffence. So if a certain fort-n of behaviollr no lorrger causes otfence, l ike Íbr example: theuse of rich language or not looking people in the eye, or using a soft of shorthand in yourtransaction with then'r at work. then you're not being nrde. On the one hand, you have theexpression of behavior-rr and on the other hand. what counts as the pr incip le at stake,namely whether or rrot you are being considerate to'wards others.And I agree absolutely with Judy ancl Drucil la that if people are polite and kind, they aretretnendously l iked and i f they're not - wel l they're ei ther just regarded as normal orthey're dis l ikect.

(537 words)

74

0. c. children should not hold the door open for others.

l. c,. c,hilclren ,shoulcl not holtl Íhe t|oor Open Íbr others.2. b. the ruder ):ottr ureJ. c'. purent.s'4. c'. ,speuk too loutlb'v^han u.;ittg u nobile phont'5. tl. cltl noÍ li'sÍen Ítl thettt'salya's v,han u.silt,g tt tntlbileó. b. v,unt Ítl tu|k ctll the time7. a. tn,ino rutt to nruke,so tttut'h noi,sa thut it cli.sturb.s otlrcr peopleB. b. ye1, ure only rude if 'tha otlter person think.s thut.t,ou ure being rutlc9. b. peopla beittg ittc,tlttsiderutc Ítltl,ttrtl.s ettc,h rltht,t.10. u. people v'lto ut't 'polire ure l ikad

Listenins - Paft 2

It is est imated that every year. over 100.000 sea birds. whales. seals and turt les i rre k i l ledby plast ic rubbish in the sea. Some of this r .Lrbbis lr conles Íl .orrr ships. whetr peoplecarelessly throw things overboard. But nrost plastic rr,rbbish in the sea conres fror-n theland. People throw away things made of plast ic.

Plastic is very usefu| stuÍt Arrd it lasts a |ong tirne before it starts to break dowr-r. Butthis is a lso the problem with plast ics. P last ic rubbish in the sea or on the lancl lasts forverY lnanY Years.

With t iure. p last ic accumulates in the environment in grL 'ater and greatcr quant i t ies.And the strange thing is that we often rrse plastic thirrgs for orrIy a Very short tirne beÍbrewe throw them away, we throw the plastic bag into the bin ancl throw the bottle away.

Some other countr ies have takert act ion to reduce the anrouttt of p last ic rubbish. InIrelarrd. for example, yott have to pay Íor plast ic bags i rr the Supermarkets. and mostpeople have stopped using thern. Most used plast ic in Bntain is s imply thrown away. Iam afraid that our government talks a lot about environrnental problems, but does not domuch abor,rt thern. Rebecca Hosking realised that it was no good waiting for ourgovernment to act; ordinary people had to take the initiativc thenrselves.

She decided that Modbury could becorne tlre first town in England where there werc noplast ic shopping bags. For rnany weeks, she ta lked to the traders in Modbury. Sheexplained, t ime and again, about the damage which plast ic does in thc enviror,ment. Sheresearched the possib le a l ternat ives to plast ic bags, how rnuch they cost. where they comefrom and how they can be r-rsed. GradLrally she got all the shopkeepers in Modbury toagree. orr l May this year, they al l stopped oÍfer ing their c l rstomers plast ic bags.Modbury is the f i rst p last ic bag-free town in Br i ta in, and perhaps in Europe. l f you evervis i t the beaut i fu l county of Devon, be sure and shop in Modbury.

75

(342 u orc ls )

1. tr)eople Íhrov, things ot,erboartl2. peoltle throv, utr4'av things3. last^s.for nany ,vears4. in greuter and gr"eater quantities5. /br onlv a short timeő. Íhrov,tt u,'|,(l\,us rubbish7' pay.filr plasÍic bags8. cloes vert, little9. giving plastic bctgs to custonters10. be plastic bctg-/ree in Britain

76

LL

S JSflT frJITJYUd

Reading (45 minutes/2S marks)

Part 1 Í2.5 marks)

Read the text below. The second part oÍ,each pűr(|graph is missing from the passage.You cun.firtd them after tlte text. llrite tlte appropriate answers into the boxes after thetext.

The Jirst (0) has been done as an exuntple. There are three pűragrűph endings whichyou trill not need.

Possibly, in Europe. one person in ten has turned green. No wonder. You would have tolead a sheltered life ...0

Take the Adriatic coast of Italy where, all night long, the slime and the scum lap themoonlit beaches. At dawn, the shore is covered in a thick brown-green gunge. ....1

Where does it come from? For years, nitrates and phosphates, and God knows what otherchemicals. have been dumped into the Adriatic. The industry of the Po valley has had itseÍfluent combined with rising temperatures in the sea to produce thick a|gae. ...2

The average Brit does not sort as rnuch garbage for recycling, does less to conserve energy,rarely votes on green issues, and only began driving on unleaded petrol once there was atax incent ive. . . .3

West Germany is ahead. In German superrnarkets, shoppers choose the green-friendly andthe not-nasty. Fly-sprays are exchanged for old-fashioned fly-papers. A Green householderw i l l have two dustb ins . . . .4

ln Arnerica, it is no longer a simple matter of separating the bottles frorn the chicken bones.and pickrng out the lettuce leaves for the compost heap. In offices, workers have lines ofcolour-coded wastepaper baskets, one for white paper with glue, one for white paperwithout glue, one for coloured paper, ...5

The science of garbology has taken hold. It has an official magazine. entitled, of course,Garbage. The magazine has a Garbage Index with lots of information for the fact-hungry.Americans throw away 1.6 bil l ion ball-point pens every year, as well as two bil l ion razorblades and 250 mi l l ion car tyres. . . .ó

Out on America's beaches, to keep the floating rubbish from reaching New York, the USArmy Corps of Engineers uses skimmers to lift debris from the water. One result of theplastic garbage is dead fish. ...7 . On a larger scale, Western consumption patterns arervrecking the ozone layeroverthe Antarctic and destroying the Brazllian rain forest. Powerstations in Britain are kil l ing trees in Norway. ...8

These problems are too large to be left to the individual. ...9

They are probably too large to be left to the Greens. According to the British GreenManifesto, "Conservation must replace consurnption as the driving force of our econorny.. . . 1 0

78

A.

B.

one for norrnal rubbish, and one for paper which is taken to be recycled. Glass goesinto a special container down the road.. Batteries are taken to special collecting-points.

The result is economic disaster for the tourist industry: 3,000 hotels, 26,000 vil las and800 restaurants take a lot of fi l l ing. One politician suggested the building ofswimming pools.

C. not to be aware of the garbage in the air, on the lund, and in the sea

Green politics is about 'enough',

not about more and more'. Nuclear power stationsare extremely dangerous. The growth of air traffic over Europe is unnecessary..."

Global warming is also a big problem.

Greens are recommended to read the Los Angeles Times, 83 per cent of which isprinted on recycled paper.

Dump trucks roar into action, and the splodge is collected and taken away, but by earlyafternoon, it has again started to drift inshore. The sludge is killing fish, clams andmussels. It is kil l ing the tourist business, too.

More and more packaging is being used in shops.

Today's central heating will produce tomolTow's global warming, and the flooding oflow-level lands the day after.

A rare three-metre-long beaked whale was washed ashore on Long Island. After apost-mortem, scientists concluded that the animal had starved to death, its stomachblocked by plastic carrier bags.

Britain is probably about five years behind the leaders.

Recycling of glass and paper is a good idea.

and yet more baskets for other types of rubbish. Trash Police are employed to reporlon Garbage Louts.

People just do not have the personal resources to deal with the problerns.

D.

E.

F.

G.

H.

I.

J.

K.

L.

M.

N.

0 I 2 1J 4 5 6 7 8 9 t 0

C

79

Part 2 fl2.5 marks)

Read the text below. Some clauses are missing from the passage. You con find thembelow the text. lVrite the uppropriute letter for euch answer into the boxes after the text.The./irst (0) hss been done aS űn example. There are three clauses which you will noÍneed.

Blr"re chip conrpanies are usingemployees . . .0. . . , a repoft saysstudents graduated with a first orservices are also irrtroducinrr verbal

More than nine in l0 employers said theyas logical th inking, abi l i ty under pressurecandidates the edse.

psycl-rornetric personality tests to select graduatetoday. They blame grade infiation - 57 per cent of2: l l as t year - and . . .1 . . . Some f i rms and pub l i c

and numerical reasonins tests.

believed psychometric testing of such attributesand . . .2. . . "Soft sk i l ls" are increasingly giv ing

However, employers cont inue to use degree c lass i f icat ions as a way of . . .3. . . Almost64. I per cent, said they would only consider graduates with a 2:l or above. A quarter saidthey required a 2:2 or above. A third do not take the class of degree at face value but lookback at rvhat cancl idates . . .4. . .

Carl Gil leard. the chief executive of the Association of Graduate Recruiters. saidemployers real ise that the days of academic cr i ter ia . . .5. . .

' 'There i s l ess fa i th in the ab i l i t v o f degree c lasses to . . . ó . . .

"Research has shown that there is l ittle consistencv not onlv between the standard ofdegree awardecl between univers i t ies but . . .7. . . ."

The blanket requirement for a good c lass of degree is being quest ioned because i t . . .8. . .with a 2:2 from Oxford or Carnbridge and another candidate with a first from one of thenewer univers i t ies. Mr Gi l leard said.

More signiÍicarrtly, is the use of psychometric tests to aSSeSS a candidate's abil ity orpersonal i ty . . .9. . . After nulneracy, numerical reasoning and logic fo l lowed by l i teracyand verbal reasoning, employers are also looking for "soft skil ls" says the report.

Err lp loyers are |ooking tt lore careÍul ly at ' ' the jounrey' ' towards t l re f inal degree,. . . l0. . .

80

a. selecting those they wish to take further

b. between subjects at the same university

c. becaase they no longer trust universíty degrees

d. such as extra curricular activities and how rnotivatecl a student was at universitv

e. graduates cannot expect their degree to be taken at face value

f. "emotional intel l igence" was a useful way of assessing candidates

g. accurately mirror the graduate conrpetencies that nratter

h. achieved at A-level or its equivalent

i. out of university experience will carry much weight

J , failed to distinsuish between someone

k. the wide variation in standards between universities

l. it wil l not be the results but the subiect studied that wil l rnatter most

m. "as the be-all and end-all are long gone"

n. by means of questions devised by psychologists

0 2 J 4 5 r l B 9 l 0C

81

Writing (75 minutesl2S marks)

Part I (12.5 marks)

Write a short essay, which is to appear in ),our college magazine, about the use oJ'advertising in our modern world. Write giving j)our opinion about udvertising ingeneral and with reference to the Jbllow,ing poirtts:

Vllhere do we see udvertisements; how do n,e Íeel about seeing them?

Quality of the nressoge given by advertisements.Factual or oJten ltumorous, which is best?Misrepresentation of products (smoking, alcohol, etc.).Banning certain types of advertisements.

Write your letter here (about 200 words).

a

o

a

a

o

I have been asked to write a short article about advertising in our modern world forthe College magazine.

l 5

20

82

Part 2 (12.5 marks)

Yott w,ork.for Riversicle Lunguages - a cortrpany v,hich specialises in French, Germun

and Spanish language training. lfrite a letter o.f'reply, outlining the services your

cu,,lpűny con oÍfer witlt the followittg aspects:

. Languages taught and how they are taught (intensive/standard courses,

individuals or groups, special requirements, let,els that you teach to).. BrieÍ overview oJ'your teachers _ nutive/non nutive, education, yeűrs taught,

etc.o Price (fnctors such us the nuntber o/'people attending/plac'e/special

requirements/level will alfect the costs oJ'lessons).o oÍÍer a meeting to discuss the training needs of the co,,tpűt,y.

Write your letter here (about 200 words).

Thank you for your letter of 13th January enquiring about the services offered byRiverside Languages.

5

l 0

l 5

83

Listening

Part I

I

)I,

about 30 mÍnutes/2S marks l

(12.5 marks) |I

You ure going to hear two people talking ubout their son's illness. First, look ut the Isentences below. As j'ou listen, choose tlre best ending for the sentences. The first (0)

has been done os űn exantple. l

I

You will have 30 seconds to read the questions below. You will hear the conversation ,twice. Do as muclt us ),ou cun in the first listening and complete and correct your workduring the second listening. LISTEMAREFULLY.

0. His parents

a. rnanaged to stop him smoking

b. managed to discourage him from smoking

c. explained to him that it was dangerous

l. Who knew that the son was smokins cannabis?a. the rnotherb. the fatherc. both parents

2. It was after their son had returned from New Zealand that they first noticed that:a. tlreir son was suffering from the effects of 'jet lag'b. something was mentally, seriously affecting their sonc. he seemed tired, but was generally feeling fine

3. ln the first incident, the son thought:a. that onlv he rvas going to be shotb. that they all were going to be shotc. nobody was going to be harmed

4. The parents have been putting up with this troublea. long before the son went to New Zealandb. for the last two-and-a-half yearsc. forjust over a year

5. The mother states that her son 'fl ipped'. This means that:a. he oÍlen changed lris rnind abotrt things.b. the cannabis he was smoking afl 'ected him mentally.c. he had a mental breakdown.

B4

6. The parents describe the period of tirrre rvhen their son was in hosprtal forthe second tirne

a. as a very difficult periodb. a very good period as their son recoveredc. a period with very l ittle change

7. When in hospital for the second time, the son continued:a. to smoke cannabisb. to take his medic inec. to make ilttle or no progress because he smoked anct did not take his meclicine.

8. The son's attitude is that smoking cannabis:a. is harmlessb. is not part of the problemc. re laxes him

9. Changing the class of drug from B to C indicates that it:a. is less dangerousb. is more dangerousc. has made no difference

10. Overal l , these parents:a are l ittle concerned about cannabis in our societyb. are greatly concerned about cannabis and its l irrk to rnental i l lnessc. feel that not enough is being done Íbr people suffering from mental i l lrress

0 I 2 3 4 f, 6 I 8 9 t 0C

85

Part 2 (12.5 marks)

You are going to heur ű persun talking about old people. First, look ut the table belowund read the statements. As you listen, decide if the stutements (I - I0) are TRUE,FALSE or l{OT STATED IIV THE TEXT (l\lot Stated). Put an X in the appropriatecolumn. The./irst (0) has been completed as an example.

You have 30 seconds to read the sentences below. You will hear the recording twice.Do as muclt os you can during the Jirst listening und complete or correct your workduring the second listening. LISTElV CAREFIJLLY.

Example:0. Living to an old uge is often seen as a sign of good luck

1 . Living to l00 is tnore comÍlon these days.

2. By 2050 there wi l l be more old people than chi ldren.

3. In the past, a lot of o ld people l ived into their 70s.

4. According to the speaker, the biggest changes will be in Asia.

5. The speaker thinks that older people are able to adjust to l iv ing longer l ives.

6. The speaker thinks that society today is unkind towards old people.

7. Young people sti l l rely on the older generations.

8. Your-rg people are becoming urbanised, leaving the older people in the vil lages

alone.

9. The concept of the extended family has broken down in modern society.

10. Society has created an underclass cal led old people.

0 I 2 3 4 f 6 7 8 9 l 0TrueFalse

Not

StatedX

86

Oral Communication

Part I lntroduction

Part 2 Guided conversation

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement'lTeaclrers slrould make lcarning enjoyabIe and Íitn Íbr their str"rclents.Use reasons and spec i l rc cx lnrp les lo support your opin ion.

Part 3 Picture description/topic based on visual stimuli

about 20 minutes

87

Possible questions

o WhctÍ (lre SOme goocl Íhings about having a contputer,?o Whut ure some bad things about having u c'ontputer?o Doe.s having u c'ontputer make lifb ntore c'omplicatecl or less complicatecl'?o Can your parents operate a c'orttputer? Whttt about your grctnclpurents'?C Do ),tlu think our lit.es huve been intpt.oy,ec| bv computer techrullog.v,? Think oí'u

.f'ev' examples of hov' c'ontltuters have un educ'utionul or an entertuinntent vctlue.Coulcl t,ou do v'ithout thent?

o Htrve vou ever Íaken u COurSe ut sc,hool v,here l,ott usecl a c.ompuÍer,?o Whet.e clo w,e see/use conryluÍers totlul:?

BB

Answer Key Practice Tests 5

Readins - Parl I

0 II 2

.,J 1 5 6 1 I i q l 0

C G B K A M F J I l N D(Not usecl: E, , H, L)

Readins - Pafl 2

(Not used: E, [ , L)

Writing - Part I Model answer

I have been asked to wrÍte a short articlethe College magazine. As many of youviews on this subject might be of interest to

about advertising in our modern world forare studying marketing and advertising. mvvou ancl vour studies.

In my opinion, advertising interrupts our television prograrns. screams at us frornbil lboards on city streets. and fi l ls our newspapers ar"rd magazines with often uselessmessages. However, it provides information about new products and services which rvemight otherwise never discover, if left to find for ourselves.

In a sophisticated society, the nrarketplace is too big so a lnanuÍ.acturer tleeds moreefficient ways to communicate new ideas. Advertisers are learning that they need to packtheir commercia ls with bits of humour. Also a s imple i rnage carr ies an old message withhumour: a picture is woftlr a thousnnd words.

Brrt advertising catr tnisrepresent prodtrcts, artd those rvhich are lrarrnÍirl to healtlr, suclr ascigarettes, can be disguised in advertisernents featuring srnil ing, fun-loving youngsters.Such tactics, however, only point to a need to closely regulate the adverlising industrywith a strict code of ethics. nronitored by the public and enforced by the government.

I think that it is so imporlant for us to rnaintain the idea that adverlising is a right. and thatr ight may be wrthdrawn i f misused.

(220 words)

0 ) ')-) 4 5 6 l 8 9 t 0C K F A H M G B J N D

89

Writins - Part 2 Model answer Riverside Languages22 High StreetManchesterM5 6XJ30th January 2007Mrs S. Stone

Human Resources ManagerNorthern Manufacturers Ltd.The Industrial EstateOldhamOL3 7RJ

Dear Mrs Stone,

Thank you for your |etter of 13th January enquíring about the services offered byRiverside Languages.

We teach French, German, Spanish and Japanese to both groups and individuals. Classestake place in our school in the centre of Manchester, or on your company's premises. Forindividual classes, we are able to teach all levels from beginner to advanced. For groups,the availabil ity of higher-level classes depends on demand. About half our teachers arenative speakers of the languages taught. The rest are fluent speakers and most have livedin the countries where these languages are spoken. All our teachers are graduates with afurther qualification in language teaching, and between them they have accumulatedmany years of teaching experience both at home and abroad.

Our standard courses for groups consist of 4 hours of classes per week, divided into 2sessions, and last for six months. At the end of that time, students who pass the finalexam will receive a certif icate stating the level they have attained, and will be allowed toprogress to the next level. We also run courses preparing students for external exams inthe languages we teach.

Price depends on a number of factors, including the size of the group, any specialrequirements, and where the class takes place. I would be happy to come to your office todiscuss this at your convenience. Please call me on 0161-364 8749 to arrange a suitablet ime.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely.

(Signature Block)

90

(224 words)

Listening - Part I

Mother:We tried to stop hirn. We tried to doexplain that it wasn't a good idea, that

as all parents do I suppose to discourage him andit was dangerous. But he did it anyway.

Interviewer:When did you see a real change in his character and how did that show itself?

Father:I don't think his personality changed dramatically until he was sixteen or seventeen. Itwas really when he carne back fiom his stay in New Zealand that he totally changed.

M: We noticed the change in hin-r straight away. At first. I thought it was jet-lag, butwithin 24 hours I knew there was something seriously the matter because his eyes werestrange, he u,as saying strange things; just corning out with the most bizarre statements.And within two days he just fl ipped totally. And in fact, burst into our room in the middleof the night screaming and then sobbing like a child because he believed somebody wasin the house with a gun who was going to kil l him. He then thought that that person hadlevitated outs ide the house and was outs ide our bedroom window about to k i l l us a l l . andhe was absolutely petrif ied. And really, that was the starling poir-rt of all the sort oftroubles we've had in the last two-and-a-half vears.

[: Now after this inc ident. he had to be sect ioned. didn't he?

M: He was actually in hospital for about seven weeks that time. He was fine fbr four/fivemonths, gradually got better and then fl ipped again. July last year - just over a year ago -

and that time he was in hospital ti l l Decernber, and that was just horrendous.

F: But again, he wouldn't accept that he had a problem and wouldn't co-operate andwasn't taking his rnedicat ion.

M: And he was srnoking dope in hospital.

F: That's right. And they hadn't noticed in hospital that he tvasn't taking the rnedication.He was getting dope in hospital and smoking it; and so the combination of smoking dopeand not taking medication meant he didn't make any progress at all. In fact, in some waysfor a time he actually got worse when he was in hospital.

I: Your point of view is that he sti l l doesn't adrnit or acknowledge that cannabis is par-t ofthe problem. He'l l go on smoking it '/

M: It doesn't matter how we explain it or argue it or talk about it, he wil l not accept thatit may be harmless for Some people but Íbr those people who have this pre-deposition tocannabis psychosis it is a very, very serious drug. In the latest time that our son has beenil l he has been in a high dependency unit and has not been able to get dope. It's not justthe sobering-up process, it 's a serious rnental i l lness.

91

l : Can you. iurst g iv 'e r .rs i l scnsc o1-the cxtent of thc problenr '/ I urc i ln, how rr i r-rch is yourson sn-roking' l

F :Once he s t a r t s g c t t i ng i l l .so r t o f as i f i t accc l cnr tesover thc edgc.

M: Anc l h i s bchav iour r i i thh inr .

thcn hc seenrs to sntclke l lore and rtrore ancl lnore. lt altnost -

the an'toLrnt he is srnoking - unt i l eventual ly i t just t ips him

it is just so bizarre - that at that point we can't reason tv i th

F .My son ' s cor t r i l t ccc l that because ' i t ' s be ing ta l<en c lown to c lass C ins tead o f c lass Bthelt i t cal t ' t be that bad or hamrf ir l . otherwise they wouldn't do i t . And in a sense he'st-ts i t t-t] tIt i r t tc l . iLrst iÍ i car l .v ' i l - lg ol l sI l lokiIrg i t .

M: By g iv ing out thc nressage that i t i s r t ' t so dangerous . l th ink k ids a re go ing to say .. . loc lk ' you l i t lorv. i t .s Ílrrc; i t .s l lc l t as c lattgct.o l ls í lS a lcohol. . . (622 words)

| 0. c. e.rplained to him that it was clangerous' Il. t,. brlÍlt pul.Ctl|'\]. h..s'tltttt,ÍltittE1 tttattÍull.t,tt 'tt 'y.sariou'sl-l.u//ac,tittg their 'stltt.] ' u. I ltuÍ t ltt l . l , l te tr.t l .s r:r l i l ig to ba 'yhtl|

1. b. l i l r tha lu,st Í.l ' ,r l-uttd-u-ltul,f,. l .aur.s

i. r ' . l tc hutl u nrerttul breuktlov'tt.(t. u. (t.\ u yat'.t'tlil/itult pariod

7. c. Ítl lttulte little ()t. l1() progrc,\S l.lec.lu'se he smoked untl tlitl not tuke hi,s

tttetl i t ' ina.

..Y. h. i .s rtot put't ry' t lte problant(). u. lc.s'.s' tlttttgt,t'ott^s

I0. b. ul,t,gt,auÍlI t,r lttt,t, l .ttat l ubtlttÍ c.unnubi,s ttnd it^\ l inl i Io ntenÍul i l lne,s,s

Listcnin_{ - Part 2

Whcrt I u,as young, thc World was a very cLff.erent place. Like ntany other Chinesechi ldrcn growin-q up in l long Kong those days, I hacl a very large extenclecl fami ly; withcclt ts i l ts . t iutttts. uncles ancl grandparcnts u,ho tuught arrd protected r le. I was quite luckyas threc ot ' rrty granclparents l ivecl rvel l into their e ight ies. This was quite unl ike otherpcclple in their gct ierat ion. born at the turn of the 20'r ' centLtry. rvhen people general lvl ivcc l only to about -15 ycars. In those days. i f an olcJer re lat ive l ived past the 70'r 'b ir thciav,it u'as cor-rsiclerccl a grcat fcrrtunc.

1-ocla1,. th ings have chan,gcd. People around the w'or ld nre l iv ing much longer. Countr iessttcl 't its Japarr alrcacly,have an avcrirge l iÍ-e expectalrcy that reaches beyorrd 80 years.\\ ih i le people al l ovcr the' ,vot ' lc l arc l iv ing lorrger l iv 'es, the biggest change in l i f -cc rpect i t t ' t cv i s happcn ing in c leve lop ing count l i es . such as Ch ina . Ind ia and Indonesra . By2025. a l t t tost trvo-thirc ls o1'the u, 'or lc l 's o lc lest people wi l l l ive i rr the dcveloping countr ieso f A s i a .

92

For the developing countr ies. th is gi t t of long l i t -e is a c loLrblc-edgcd srvord. In developedcountr ies, aging has progressed at a rnuch s lorver pace, and these countr ies have had the|uxury of tirne and aÍfluence to irdjrrst and take acl'n.antage of this gift. But in thedeveloping world, populat io| ls are growing old beÍbre they grow r ich and have l i t t le trmeto prepare.

Seven years ago, r,vhen she was alnrost 90 years old, rlv o\\/n grandrnother. Madarne TauLrn Taso, establ ished The Tsao Foundat ion speci f ica l ly to address issues of aging inAsia. She fe l t one- of the biggest changes was horv older people were seen by the modernworld. She fe l t that society r ,vas unkind to old age. partrcular ly those l iv ing in poverty.Her vision to prorrrote successful aging and strengtherr the relationship between the agesis one that I too have adoptecl. Sadly, rny grandmother passecl away recently at the age of9 5 .

Today. older people in the developing worlcl have little or no ÍlIrancial safety net, andsocial sr"rpport structures l ike the farnily are gradually breaking clown. Young people aremoving to cities in search of work and other opportunrties as the older generations havebeen left behind, having to struggle in poverly and work against tremendous hardship intheir old age in order to survive. Instead of being supported by the Í-amily and children.n'rany older people continue to lvork irt order to eat and liv'e. Many have the additionalresponsibil ity of caring for the farnily members, such as the dying children affected byHIV and AIDS, or grandchi ldren orphaned as a result of conf l ict and disasters.

As the world strives for econornic development and material well-being. society rnust notcreate a whole nerv underclass cal led old people. And given the speed of populat ionaging, par l icular ly in developing countr ies, the s i tuat ion of o lder people and prejudicesagainst them cannot be ignored.

(483 words)

0 I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10True X X X x x xFalse x X XNotStated

x X

93

Examínation Instructions

Topics and Tips

[Jseful Phrases when Speaking

95

EXAMINATIOI{ INSTRUCTIONS

The levels are current ly being harmott ized with CEF levcls using proceclures descr ibecl i 'the Manual with the help of experts.

Level A (be-ginner level)The equivalent of the Cou'c i l of E 'rope level: ,{2

After successf-ul ly achieving level A. you are a good tour ist: you can ask quest ions. youunderstand the sirnpler answers' you can go shopping, you can ask for Íbod arrd drlnk inthe target language. you understand the s ig 's, that is: you can manage.

Level ts (off ic ia l ly recog. ised elernenrary le 'e l i . Hungary)The equivale ' t of the councir of Europe revers: B r

After achreving level B ' you can look for a job and work amons col leagues speaking thetarget language; you start understanding newspaper and radio news. TV prog.amffles, yoLrcan even try going to the cinenra or theatre.

Level c (off ic ia l ly recognised internrediate level i ' Hu'gary)The equivalent of the Counci l of Eurolte levels: 82

After achiel' ing level C. yotl can start stuclies in the secondary schools and at the collegesand universities of the target language country. You have learned the structure of thetarget langr-rage and understoo<J its logic - ancl by no* you have surely got to l ike it. youstart appreciating literatr-rre; you understand annoLlncements at the raitway station a'dwhat people are shouting in the street' That is yort are starting to Í-eel conrfortab|e in thetarget language and in the target language countly.

Level D (off ic ia l ly recognised aciva.ced le 'e l i . HLrngary)The equivalent of the Counci l of Europe levels: C I

when you achieve level D, you becorne an equal partner of the nat ive speakers of thetarget language. You write, read and speak li[e they do, you can study, w.ork and cloresearch among them, and you can cont inue expanding yoi ,r . knowledge of the culture.l iterature arrd history - that is tlte past and p,.,.ni of - the-target |anguage cu|ture withouÍdiÍf iculty.

97

PARTS OF THE ECL EXAM

I . ORAL COMMUNICATION

Candidates wi l l be interviewed in pairs. Odd numbers of candidates wi l l be interviewedin threes.

lntroduct ion (3-5 minutes approxirnately) - is not to be assessed.The main purpose of this part of the test is, firstly, to put the candidates at their ease andto er'rable tl-re interviewer to gatlrer inforrrration about the carrdidates Íbr the rernainder ofthe exanr.

Guided conversat ion (5 - 8 minr-rtes)The interviewer initiates a conversation based on a topic of his/her choice and by askingquest ions encourages a col lversat iot ' t between the two candidates.

Picture descr ipt ion based on visual st i rnul i (5 - 8 rninutes)The pictures are selected and provided by the intervicwer. lf necessary, the interviewer

can help the candidates with c luest iorts.

Marks are a'uvardecl on a scale of 0 to 5 (a total of 25) according to each of the following

cr i ter ia:

- Formal Accuracy (rnorphology and syntax) 0-5 points

- Oral accuracy (pronunciation, prosody and fluency) 0-5 points

- Vocabulary (rarrge and act ivat ion) 0-5 points

- Stylelpragrnatic and sociolinguistic aspects) 0-5 points

- Communicative effectiveness (adequate task completion) 0-5 points

2. WRITING (salnple tests: http:// in) ' t .pte.hu/teszt.htrnl )

The test assesses the abrlity of the candidate to write short texts related toeveryday s i tuat ions inc luding general infonnat ion.

Marks are awarde d on a scale of 0 to 5 (a total of 25) according to each of the followingcr i ter ia:

- Fonral Accuracy (morphology and syntax) 0-5 points

- Accuracy (test construct ion and spel l ing) 0-5 points

- Vocabulary (range and act ivat ion) 0-5 points

- Sty le(pragrnat ic and socio l inguist ic aspects) 0-5 points

- Cornmurticative effectiveness (adequate task completion) 0-5 points

98

L

3. READING COMPREHENSION (sample tests : http ://inlit.pte.hu/teszt.htrnl )

The test assesses the abil ity of the candidate to understand shor1, simple texts of ageneral content (e.g. announcements, short travel information, simple forms,short news and timetables).

4. LISTENING COMPREHENSION (sample tests: http:// inyt.pte.hu/teszt.html )

The test assesses the abil ity of the candidate to understand a conversationbetween two native speakers about a topic familiar for the candidate and to graspthe general sense of simple public announcements (announcements, ads).

99

ECL - TOPIC LIST Levet oC'

l . The indiv idual

o age-related characteristics. behavioural patterns. fashion/clothing/cosmetics

2. Partnership

. roles in the farnily

. men and women

. relationships and contacts at work

3. Family

. family/bringing up childreno relationship of generations/living together. marriage/divorce/forms ofpartnership

4. Place of l iving

o rental/property. lodgings. buying a flatlbuying on credit. renovat ion

5. Travel ling/transport

. driving/highway codes

. road accidents

. walking, riding the bike

. reasons/forms of travelling abroad

6. Shopping/shops

. shopping habits

. chains / TV shopping

. retail shops versus shopping centreso customers 'complaints

7. Communicationikeeping in contact

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o

a

reasons of the popularity of rnobilesthe role of language knowledge in communicationthe increasing dominance of the English language

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8. Services

o car rental. insurance/its formso travel agencies/banks. repairs / guarantees. publ ic ut i l i t ies

9. Cu lture/entertai nment

. music trends/ musical taste

. books versus Internet

. cinerna, theatre versus TV, video

10. Time/weather

o role, accurateness of forecastso weather and well_being (medical meteorology)o relationship of climate and flora/fauna

I l . Health/ i l lnesses

. outpatient department - hospital - specialist

. homeopathy - medicineo pÍevention/screening

12. Sport

. doing sports - healthy l ifestyle

. ball games/team sportso waler sportsr'winter sports

13 . Med ia

o features of newspapers, their columns. sensation and news. media and culture

14. Hobby

o pUfSUlng amateur aÍs. clubs (sport, cultural, professional). hobby and work

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15. Studying/work

. language knowledge/skills/career

. equal chances in education, finding a workplace

. exchange programs/scholarships abroad/professional development

. mass education versus elite education

16. European Union

. work in the EU

. language teaching/language knowledge/work opportunities in the EU

. EU programs (education, economy, etc.)

17. Culture and civilisation

The home country and the target language country

population/ethnic minoritieshistoric traditions/monumentscultural valuesarti stic/ethnograph i c characteri sti cs

18. Publ ic l i fe

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public institutionsbureaucracy in officeslocal politicspublic safetynational holidays

1 9. Environmental protection

o pollution (air, water, soil, etc.)o selective waste management. recycling. alternative sources of energy

20. Cunent topics/events

. public l ifeo eCoÍromYo arts' sport

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o

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Examination TÍns

Tips: reading - gapped text

Aims to help students to interpret linking and referencing devices in context.

Tip IThe first thing students should always do isclause/sentence part that has been given as anstudents waste time trving to fit this in elsewhere.

cross off the miss ing sentenceexample. It 's amazing how often

Típ 2Students should always remember that there are extra sentence clauses/sentence partsthat do not fit anywhere. If they have time, the last thing they should do is check thatthe clauses/sentence parts left over really do not fit in any of the gaps.

Tip 3As wel l as the referencingat how the topics changechronological order.

and l inking devices, i t can also be useful for students to lookover the lensth of the text and whether the text follows a

Tip 4Students must get into the habit of r-rnderlining the language that helps themcomplete the task (e.g. expressions l ike 'after that ') , and then under l ine the languagethat it refers/links to (e.g. 'the birthday party'). Look for the subject l inks to the firstsentence/part. This will make it much easier for students during the exam.

Tip 5As always. i f students don't know they should guess, as a blank space is alwayszero poir-rts and there are no deductions for guesses.

Tip 6There is nothing real ly to be gained from f i l l ing in the miss ing sentence c lauses orsentence parts in the salne order as the text, so it is always best to start with the onestudents feel most sure about after having read through all of the gapped text and themiss ing bits (and having under l ined the relevant parts. of course).

Tips: Reading: Answer questions with a short sentence

Tip IThe questions wil l fol low the text (top to bottom) and wil l usual ly test your understandingat sentence level.

Tip 2Identify the key words in the question that you are given. Match these keys words to thetext; it can be useful to underline these words in the text. Carefully read the sentence(s)related to these key words for the answer. Write a shorl sentence as your answer.

105

Tips for Writing Test

I . Make brief plans before you start to write.2. Spend only 30 tninutes on Writing Task I to allow enough time to answer

Writing Task 2.3. Make sure that you firlly understand the details and that you select the most

important pieces of information for your answer.4. Give yourself time to organise your ideas and your argument. Make sure that you

provide any supporting evidence that is necessary to support your answer.5. Paragraph your work very carefully. Appropriate paragraphing is very important

and it is a key to a good answer.6. Start each paragraph with a clearly stated topic sentence. Make sure that you

don't deviate from that topic in that paragraph.1. Write in the style required by the task. Do not use contractions or colloquial

language and avoid multi-word verbs where possible as single-word verbs aremore formal.

B. Be careful about the length of your answers and write the appropriate number ofwords for the question.

9. You will lose marks for spell ing mistakes and grammatical mistakes so leavetime to check your answer.

10. You will gain marks by displaying a range of language. Try to use a range ofvocabulary, a range of phrases and a range of structures in your answers. Do notrepeat favourite phrases several times in the hope of gaining marks.

I l. Try to write as clearly as possible. The test is relatively short so try to expressyour ideas succinctly. Do not write long, complex sentences unnecessarily, asthis may make understanding your answers more difficult. Equally, do not onlywrite short, simple sentences.

12. Do not use headings, sub-headings or numbering in your answers.

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2.

a

Tips for Listening Tasks

l . You should concentrate only on the information they necd. You shouldn't try to

understand everything; it tvrl l only nrake things trore colnplicated. You may get

confused and give the wrong answer, or waste valtrable tittle.

It is important that you try to answer al l quest ions dur ing the f i rst l istening, so

that you can use the second listening to check your answers. If you use up both

tirnes to give initial answers, then yt-ru r'vi l l have to rely on your memory in order to

check. But mernory for details tends to be quite unreliable under the psychological

strain of the exam!

ln rnult ip le choice tasks; you shouldn't pay attent ion to the opt ions (A, B, C)

befbre &during the f i rst l istening. because two out of three are designed to

confuse you! Words from the distracters are 'planted' in the text; if learners have

read the distracters they rnay be le d to choose the wrong option. Y o u have much

lrore chance of giving the correct answer if you listen having only the question in

mind, and then approach the distracters "armed' with specific ideas. You always

have the second listening to check.

When taking notes (on rough paper), you shouldn't wr i te ful l sentences; wri te

key words only. You don't need to write whole words. e i ther; only parts of

words (e.g. univ. for univers i ty). Also, you don't need to w'r i te neat ly; i f you can

understand your notes, they are OK. Remember: speed is very important! Youwill have time to write them dolvn neatly at the end of the Part, as well as at the endof the test.

5. When the question is about feelings or attitude. leartters should pay particular

attention to the speaker's tone of voice.

Tips: speaking part l: speaking about yourself

4 .

Help to give information about yoursel f

Tip IThis part of the exam is nrainly there to re laxan easy and pleasant topic - themselves. It ischal lense is to be relaxed and sociable.

the students and start them talking aboutimporlant fbr the final mark but the real

Tip 2Examiners usual ly ask quest ions to one candidate for one tninute, and then switch to

the other(s). The non-talk ing candidate should l isten attent ively. I f they can prove they

have been doing so by referring tcl their partner's answers when speaking, all the

better.

107

Tip 3TÉe topics that will usually be covered are farnily, work and education' hometowtr,

leisure and future Plarrs'

Tip 4Yáu can practise the various topics by brainstorrning language for that topic area and

then asking each other questions for a few milutes using the vocabulary'

Alternati,rJy, they can prepare rnini-presentations on, for example, their hobbies'

T i p 5 , .There will also often be a mix of past, present and future forms used. Speaking practlse

on al l these wil l obviously be useftr l .

Tip 6Basically, 3ily getting to know you activities are good for this part of the exam'

which makes for a good, fun first lesson.

Tip 7The examiner generally starts each topic

then moves onto more difficult ones.

naturally they should have no probletns -

fami ly? 'with a f ive minute sPeech!

Tips: S peaking

Help to understand

T ip IStudents have to answer the actual

they should say so (as l lany t i tnes as

Tip 4Body language is an imPortant

contact ( i .e. look at the PeoPle.hands.

with a simple (even Yes/ No) question and

Generally, if the students relax and react

so no need to respond to 'Do you have a big

Tip 2Students must listen to their partner(s). They can

to/commenting on what theY saY-show they are doing so bY reacttng

Tip 3oócasíonally, three students have to do the speaking exam together instead of two.

Each stuclent wil l sti l l have exactly the same amount of time to show what they can do,

so tlre test takes n.Iore líke 20 mintttes rather than the usual l4.

common toPics found in the exarl.

quest ion that is asked!necessary).

If they don't understand,

part of communication. Students should keep eye

not the pieces of paper) and feel free to use their

108

They should not fidget (as it can clistract frorn what they are saying), so if theygeneral ly play with their pen/earr ings/bracelet when they are nervolrs, they should leavethem at home. Simi lar ly, avoid chewing guln. hats and dark glasses.

Tip 5Grammatical accuracy is only one st-rra l l part of your mark - f luency is just asimportant. So unless students think that they haven't been understood, there is no needfor thern to correct themselves.

Tip 6On the c lay(s) beforc the exam, students should speak and l isten to as much Engl ishas possib le. It wi l l probably be too late to do rnuch exam pract ice, so just chatt ingwith fr iends or watching an E,ngl ish f i l rn is just as useful .

Tip 7Final ly, students s|ror.rId be cor l f ider l t ancl act tratural . Most people Íjrrc l th is theeasiest part of the exam. If students ta lk just l ike they ta lk to their c lassrnates dur ingpair work. they'ul , i l l have no problem. Many teachers consic ler this part of the exam tobe a whole level easier than other parts.

Tip 8Vocabulary or topic-based work to cover the topics that often conre up in this part ofthe exam should be studied (see l ist of topics).

Tip 9To help students to anticipate the questiorrs it can be useÍr-rl to brairrstorrn possible questions.

T i p l 0If th is is a three-way spoken interact ion, as in the other parts of the speaking exam, i t ismeant to be as natural as possib le. Therefore. students can comrnent on what the othercandidate has said and (pol i te ly!) interrupt etc. l ike in a serni-formal s i tuat ion such asbus iness meet ing .

T i p l lStudents oÍterr ask whetherthe quest iotrs wi l l be airned at both of them or speci f ica l lyto one person. The answer is that i t depends - on the examiner and on the car-rdidates.An examiner wi l l often choose to direct the quest ions i f one candidate has beendorninat ing the conversat ion too much.

T tp 12Students are often uncertain about how lon-u they have to talk abor-rt each one of tl-reexaminer 's quest ions. This part gerreral ly lasts 4 minutes: t l ' re eraminer, however. hasa certain amount of f lex ib i l i ty on when to stop this part. Tl te examiner has about 6or 7 quest ions to last th is t ime, so two-word answers for each one are going to lead toa very unhappy exarniner! Not having much to say on one or two quest ions is nobig deal , however.

109

At the other extreme.can ta lk abor r t i t in a

saves them frotn auY

T i p 1 3The funct ional language

asreement and disagreement

if the canclidates frncl one of the questions so fascinating that they

natural rvay for 4 minutes this is a good ( i f unl ikely) thing, as i t

nlore tricky questions the examiner has on hisi her l ist'

of asking for and giv ing opiuions, inc luding some

language is useÍ-ul for this part of the exam.

Tips: Speaking - descr ib ing pictures

Help to cotnpare and contrast different pictures'

T ip I ^ ̂ - .^*: -^- . ' , ; l l .hn . r , th , ' , -end i . r res . Th is tneans that

ln the exam, the examiner wi l l show the candidates some ptctt

everyone has seen the pictures and it is therefore perfectly acceptable to say 'this

picture, and point. Mors comprex language such as 'the top picture' or 'the former/the

latter' is. of coLlrse. even better.

Trp 2The examiner wil l then ask the candidates questions about the topic represented by

the pictures, stuclents should listen very careftrlly'

Tip 3If there is anything a student doesn't understand about a question, they should ask

the examiner to re-peat. If they sti l l don't understand, they should ask again. They

should remember that they are being tested on their speaking in this part of the exam,

rrot their l istening.o*p." ir .ns ion. However, one thing they are being scored on is their

abi l i ty to actual ly answer the quest ion they are asked'

Tip 4Askrng the exatniner to repeat can actual ly

some complex language:

' [ 'm sorry, I d idn't quite catch the last part '. l f I can jus t check what you are say ing . you 'd l i ke me to . . . '' l 'nr not quite sure what (contrast) means' , etc '

Tip 6Questions are usual ly about givi lg sorle kind of opiniol e.g' 'Compare and contrast

the two holidays uni ruy wtricn you wol,lcl pref-er'. Language such as: 'in my opinion'

and 'personal ly' can be u.ry ,,r. i .r l here. 'Which hol iday would most people prefer?'

be the perfect opportunity to show off

e . g .

Tip 5The exarniner a lrnost a lways asks the students to 'compare and contrast the pictures ' '

They wi l l never be asked to s imply descr ibe them. Any act iv i t ies giv ing oral pract ice

of cornpar ing language (more inán' less than' (not) aS - oS, s imi lar to. etc.) and

contrasting tang.-'a!. ólthough. wlrereas, however, etc.) are good practice for this.

110

This only requires a short answer. but is a perÍ-ect chance to show they hal'e beelll i s ten ing to what the i r par tner sa id , w i th language such as 'As ( . luan) sa id . . . . . . ' , o r ' lagree ent ire ly with (Lee Yan). '

Tip 7Students should make sure they are ta lk ing to the exarniner (ancl the othercandidate) rather than to the picture! This can be pract ised by stLrdents turnir-rg overthe pictures once they have taken a glance at thenr. or even doing a task wit l ' r imaginarypictures.

Tip 8The examiner wil l intemrpt the stlrdent speaking after one minute, cven if they arehalf ivay through a sentence. Being interrupted is actual ly good. as i t rnearts theyhaven't run out of thines to say.

111

[Jseful Phrases when speaking

Making Transit ions between Ideas

Nor'v, let's see rvhat happer-rs.If that 's c lear, wc wi l l go on to the next point.Now, |et's approach the problem irr a diÍferent way.The seconcl point I want to rnake is. . .Let 's get back to the idea of. . .I 'c l I ike to f in ish ta lk inÍ] about. . . befbre we l l love ol l .

Summar i z ing and Conc lud ing

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To summar1ze...In sumrnary.. .What we have been talk ing about. . .Okay, we have discussed.. .So far (up unt i l now), I have been try ing to show yolr . . .To conc lude. . .In conc lus ion . . .Let's put together everything we have talked about thus far.The imporlant points to remember are.. .The conclusions we can draw f ionr this are.. .How would you slrmmarize the theory')

Invit ing Part ic ipat ion or Discussion

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Who rvould l ike to say sorrething'lCould you say a l ittle more abor"rt that' lCan you elaborate on that' lDo yor-r agree... '/What do you think.. . ' lHow do you feel . . . ' JWhat comparison can you make between.. . ' l

CIar iÍ.v ing Student Com ments

ln other words.. .What you sa id i s . . .I think I understancl rvhat you lnean. Let me pr,rt it another way.If I understand you correct ly, you nrean.. .Would you l ike to elaborate on this point '/Could you restate your point'/ I'm not sure I understand.

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Emphas i z ing Po in ts

. The point to understand is. . .

. This br ings us to our nrajor quest ion.. .o What this rneans is that. . .

G iv ing Examples

. For exarnple.. .

. Take.. . , for example.

. To be t-nore speciÍic ' . ' .o Let r le give you an e.ranrple. . .o For ins tance . . .

Interrupt ing or Redirect ing Conversat ion

o Let rne interrupt for a rninute.. Spcaking of . . . we treed to rnove on to . . .. That rellrinds trre oÍ-.... We l l . we need to . . .o What you're saying relates to.. .

l f you need the speaker to repeat something:

. Pardon?

. Excuse me. Could you please repeat that ' l

. Would you r-nir-rd repeating your question?

. f luh'/ ( informal)

l f the speaker is ta lk ing too quickly:

. ['rn sorry. Could you please speak rlore slowly'/

. [rxcuse me. Would you rnind speaking more slowly') I couldn't follow what yousa id .

If the speaker is ta lk ing too soft ly ' :

. SorV, I d idn't hear you.

. Sorry, I didn't hear what you said.

. Excuse rre. Would you rnind speaking a l i t t le louder ' l

I f y 'ou do not understand the speaker:

. I'm sorry. but I'm not sure I understand.

. Sorry. br,rt I don't understand what you mean.

. I 'nr not sure I fo l low what you said. Did you say that. . . . . .

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Asking Questions

I was wondering i f you could help me. I 'd l ike to know...I wonder i f you could te l l me.. .This may sound like a dumb question, but I'd l ike to know....Excuse me, but do you know... . . .I hope you don't mind my asking, but ['d l ike to know...Somethins else I 'd l ike to know is. . . . .

Answering Questions

If you need to hesitate or delay your answer:

Well , let me see.. .We l l , now. . . .Oh, let me think for a minuteI'm not sure. I'11 have to check.That's a very interesting question.

If vou don't know the answer:

['m not really sure.I can't answer that one.['m sorry, I really don't know.I've got no idea.I 'd l ike to help you, but. . . .That's something I'd rather not talk about right now.

Getting More Information

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Could you tell me more about....Would you mind tell ing me more about...I'd l ike to know more about...Something else I was wondering about was...Sorry, that's not really what I mean. What I'd l ike to know is...So.ry to keep bothering you, but could you tell me...Sorry, but I don't quite understand why.....

To hesitate when beginning a turn

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. how can I put this

. it 's l ike this, you see

. hmnrm

. a combination of any of these

To stop someone from interrupting you

. Even though / Although.. . .

. However . . . .

. And another thing

. Pausing in the rniddle of a sentence instead of at the end of a sentence

To interrupt someone

. I f I cou ld jus t come in here . . . .

. Sorry to interrupt, but...

. Um. . .Urn . . . .Um (unt i l the speaker not i ces you)

. By the way. . . .

Asking for clarif ication

o What do you mean?. I'm not sure what you ntean.o Sorry, but I don't understand rvhat you lrean.. Could you expla in what you mealt by.. . . . ' l. Are you saying that. . . .?. I 'm not sure I fo l low you. Did you say that. . . . .?

Clarifying or restating

o I n t ean . . . .. ln other words.. . .. The point I 'm try in_e to t lake is. . . .. What I 'm t ry ing to say i s . . . . . .

Paraphrasing and checking for understanding

. John sa id that . . . . .

. What Mary rneans is. . . . .o I be l ieve Joe ' s po in t i s . . . .o I th ink Jeann ie fee1s . . . . . . . . I sn ' t that r ight ' /o Let r le see rf I understood you: You said.. . . . . .. Do you see what I mean'/. Is that c lear?. You got it '/. You see'l

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English WritÍng Skílls

A GuÍde to Good SentencesWritÍng Letters and Short ArtÍcles

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Contents

Sentences

Basic Punctuation

Informal letters- Useful Words for Infonnal Letters

Formal Letters

- E,xamples of Formal Letter Layout- useful words for formal letters

- Letter of Complaint- useful words and phrases

- LetterAsking for Information- useful words and phrases

A Good Letter Checklist

Guide to Writing an Article

Page I 19

Page 130

Page 139

Page 140

Page 144

Page 145

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Writing Good Sentences

The key to good letterwriting is:

Brain-storming the key words that wil l clearly state your ideas

Organising these words into an outline of the respective futureparagraphs

Choosing the correct layout - formal or informal

Writing the sentences

A sentence usually needs to:

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be in the right tense - the auxiliary (aux) and main verb

describe things or people, adjectives, (adj.)

say how thing are done or how something is, adverbs, (adv.)

say when/where it was done

Types of Sentences

Simple Sentences

A simple sentence contains a subject and a main verb; it contairls one independent clause.

I like coffee.

This is a simple sentence with one subject and one verb forming an independent clause.Naturally, a simple sentence can include other things:

I l ike a couple of cups of coffee first thing irr the mornittg.

Compound Sentences

A cornpound sentence contains two or more independent clauses, often joined by a co-ordinator.

I like coffee, but my partner prefers tea.

Complex Sentences

A cornplex sentence contains an independent clause and one or more dependent clauses.

Because I have trouble waking up, I have coffee first thing in the rnorning.(The dependent clause is in bold and the independent clause is italicized)

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The dependent clause cannot exist on its own, it requires the independent clause to makesense.

Compound-Complex Sentences

A compound-complex sentence contains at least two independent clauses and one ormore dependent clauses.

. Some people say that the best coffee comes from Brazil, but others say that thebest coffee comes from the Blue Mountains in Jamaica.

More complex sentences can be written by joining related actions together in one sentence.rhis is *''':' ""1{' words (conjunctions):

. becauseUsin{r:

AND

Sentence I

The car stopped.

Sentence 2

The driver got out.

Because these are directly related actions the two sentences can be re-written as one:

The car stopped and the driver got out.

Example: Sentence I Con Sentence 2

We stayed at home and (we)* watchedtelevision.

*it is not necessary to repeat "\.ve" "he" "[" etc.

Comma (,) p lus and

More cornplex when many actions are related:

I got home, had something to eat, sat down in an armchair and fell asleep.

BUT

An assumed action is not done or somethins is omitted from an idea.

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I brought a newspaper but I did not read it. (Assunrecl action - to read)

It is a nice house but i t has not got a garderr. (Ic]ea omitted Íiorn..nice l rouse' ' )

OR Links together options.

Asks if there is a reason for not doing an action. Do you wantto go to the cinema or the theatre? Do you want to go oLlt orare you too tired?

The result of something.

It was very I'rot so I opened the window.

SO

BECAUSE The rcason for sornething.

I opened the window because it was very hot. Because itwas very hot, I opened the window.

Using more than one conjunction

It was late and I was tired so I went to bed.

I always enjoy visiting London, but I would not like to live there becauseit is too bis.

RELATIVE CLAUSES

That/Which forthinss

Sentence IAn aeroplane is a machine.

wHo

Sentence 1A thief is aperson.

for peclple

An aeroplane is a machine which flies high in the sky.

An aeroplane is a machine that flies high in the sky.

Sentence 2An aeroplane flies high in the sky.

Sentence 2A thiefsteals things.

A thiefis a person who steals things.

THAT when the second sentence is linked to the obtect of the firstsentence and is linked to the subject (person).

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Subject

ErnmaThe house

Verb

livesin

she lives in

Object

a house.is 100 years old

Emnra lives in a house that is 1 00 years old.

An example of complex sentences using conjunctions: because, and plus theconrma (.) .

He checked into his hotel, helping himselfto a pile of"Travel in Britain" and"Welcortre to Britain" brochures while he waited. Then he went up tohis roorn. opened his dent-resistant suitcase (because his mother had taught him thatclothes, like humans, need air after ajoumey), laid on the bed without taking offtheslippery cover, and slept.

When he awoke, three hours later, he had a bad taste in his mouth and his head felthear,y. Outside he could hear the drone ofthe traffic. He rang for a Coke and bourbon,w{lchappeared twenty-five minr-rtes later, with no ice, but ratherthan complain, hedrank it warm. Slowlv. he feltbetter.

He unpacked, showered, and changed. He slicked on hair grease, ran an orangestick round his nails and slapped his neck with after-shave called "Beast". He'dhad it sent, mail order, from Kentucky. Then he sat in the armchair readine hist rave logues . wa i t ing .

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What Ís a sentence?

You rnight think this is a surprising question but in Í.act rnarry stuclents trncl it qurtedifficult to decide where to end a group of words r,vith a fl l l stop. In fact, it,s not a veryeasy thing to define a sentence. Many gramrnarians have tried but there is sonredisagreement about precisely what a sentence is. That need not worry us too 'ruch 6erebecause we only have to consider what a sentence is in practical terms in our acaclernrcessays.

So what' in practical terms, is a sentence? Well, a written sentence should hal,e certaincharacteristics:

. a capita l letter at the beginning

. a full-stop at the end

. a subject (who or what the sentence is about)

. a verb (that tells you what's happening)

. and, finally, lnany people say that it should express 'a single thought'

There are a few other helpful points to renrember aboLrt a sentence;

a sentence can be long or shortit can be very simple or very complexa sentence can be broken up with cornmas, semi-colons, colons, dashes and so on

Have a look at the examples below. Are they sentences? lf so, what type of sentelces?

This bil l is now due for payment.

Do you support experiments on animals?

Do not go beyond this point.

Blair must go!

No doubt you will recognise that one is a statenrent, one a questiol; one is an instruction(or conrmand) and one is an exclamation. We can subclivide sentences into rnanydifferent types but perhaps the most important point to consider at this stage is t'his: canwe be sure that a collection of words is actually a sentence?

Have a look at the examples below. Are they all sentences or are they parts oÍ.sentencesi.e. fragments?

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Task

Are these sentences? Decide for I'olrnelf'und then clteck the notes.

. Dicl the secretary tcll you'/

. What a noise thcy w'cre ntaking!

: ill,,::,:.,111,:::J l,::lJ;: -qo ou'f!o Brtt tlre suttrl l ler \\'í.lS lol.eIy that year'. Be-cause I was c lo ing your shoppinq.

: iJ:H**i;lúL1,1; :[:Yill;.I,:ll|'.ootl

|tas been postponed.

. That's"., ', ',nri, l! i -

. The cetrtra l character represents c1i i rkness and evi l that can be Íbrrnd in oursociety she erhibi ts no kinci l ress or generosity of any sort.Foreign direct it.tvcsttl lelrt can be aIt eÍ1.ective arrcl quick way for a developingcountry to bLr i ld up i ts local ly-basecl cornpanies however i t is not the only way.

Notes on Task

. Dic l the secretary te l l you' l I t 's a quest ion and i t 's a lso a sentence.

. What a noise thcy were making! l t 's an excl iunat ion and i t 's a sentence.And c lose the door rv l ien you go out! It 's a s ingle thought so in that rvay i t 's asentence. l t 's certa in ly a sentence r,v i thor"rt the 'and'but. as i t stands, i t 's not a very

-r lood one because i t begins rv i th thc l inking word'and'which is not a verysLritable worcl to start a sentcnce.

o But hc never heard thc reply. Again. take away the 'but ' and there is no quest ion.but the tvc lrc l 'but ' is a l inking worcl arrcJ not very suitable to start a sentence, so i t 'sn()t A \ cry qoo(l scrttcncc.But t l ie sL lmrner u 'as lovely that ycar. This is rather a poet ic sentence even i f i tdoes start with 'but ' .

o Because I was doins yol l r shopping. 'Bccause' is anothcr word that you have tobe careful about ' ,vhcn start ing sentences. This would not be regarded as a goodu'r i t ten serrtcnce- as i t shoulc l bc l inkecl to a c lause before the word'becAuse' .Bccituse of the hcavy rain this year, Wimbledon has been postponed. Here theusc of 'because' is acccptable as i t provides a reason forthe postponernent.A long dark shapc. with a short white ta i l . Def in i te ly not a sentence because i tdoesn't have a verb.

: iilffix{:ijll*lt'l:li.:;#filj::il ;;},*r,. Íbund in ourI

society she exhibits no kincLress orger lerosi ty of any sort. This sect ion should bea separatc sentence: Shc cxhibits rro k indness or generosity of any sortForci.t]rl cl irect iIlvcstttte-trt can be att efÍ-ective and qtrick way for a developingcountry to bui lcJ up i ts local ly-basecl cornpanics however i t is not the only way.This part should be a scparate sentence: F{owever. i t is not the only way.

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Subjects and objects in a sentence

We wi l l now look rnore c lose ly at the ways in which words and phrases are groupedtogether and ordered within c lauses and sentences to convey a part icular meaning.

The main elements

To begin this sect ion, we wi l l , f i rst of a l l , examine the two most v i ta l parts of the c lausestructure and then lT}ove on to the other elements. AÍ]ain. it wilI be useÍul to use a felvexarnples to i l lustrate the grammatical ideas.

. He sneezed.

. Accidents happen.

. Speed k i l l s .

. Yvonne left.

. Snakes crawl.

These c lauses are al l s i rnple sentences consist ing of only two words each. The f i rste lement in each sentence is cal led the Subject. whi le the second is the Verb. (Not ice thatI am using a capita l letter here to ta lk about the verb as a c lause element as opposed to theverb as a word class.) The Subject and the Verb are the rninirnur-r-r requirernents forconstruct ing a basic Engl ish c lause (with t l -re except ior-r of d irect ives l ike s i t ! and go!)andappear in that order in the vast rnajonty of positive and ncgative statements. Althoughsingle rvords have been used to f l l l the Subject and Verb's lots ' in the examples above,much more complicated phrases can, of course, be made:

Subject Verb

The tal l , dark stranger was s inging

The retail prices ir-rdex has been rising

Shout ing and screarning in arguments doesn't help

The newly-arrived refugees weren't able to understand

Being rejected by work mates hurts

The poor grasshopper couldn't s leep

The Sub.ject

As noted ear l ier, the subject of a posit ive or negat ive statenrent is usual ly the f i rst e lernentof a c lause or sentence. The Subjects in the fol lowing sentences are in bold and the typeof Subject is given in brackets:

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The tallo dark stranger was singing. (noun phrase)She stood st i l l . (pronoun)To err is hurnan. (verb)What he told me turned out to be a l ie. (subordinate clause)

By f-ar the most commonly used types of Subject are the noun phrase and the pronoun (lis the most frequently occurring word in the spoken language), while the verb - morecorrectly the verb infinitive with to - is seldom used in modern English. A subordinateclause as Subject is quite common both in speech and writing and usually begins withwhat(ever) . . . " the fac t that . . . o r that . . . :

The fact that he likes skiing doesn't interest me at all.That Jane failed her exam is a great disappointment.Whatever I hear about him surpr ises me.

The way to test whether a clause is functioning as the Subject is to try replacing it with asirnpler grammatical element such as a pronoun or basic noun phrase and then checkingthe grammaticality of the clause.

Applying this test to the sentences above would give:

It doesn't interest me at a l l .It is a great disappointment.It surprises me.

... all of which are grammatically acceptable. Notice that, although the Subject mayconsist of several words, a long phrase or even a subordinate clause, there can only beone grarnrnatical Subject per clause.

Up to this point we have been discussing only positive and negative statements where theSubject is the first element of the clause. However, there is one very common situationwhere this word order is not used - namely, in questions. Here the Subject and part of theverb phrase constituting the Verb element are invefted. From some of the examples abovewe get:

Was the tall, dark stranger singing?Has the retail prices index been rising?Doesn't shout ing and screaming in arguments help?Weren't the newly-arrived refugees able to understand?Couldn't the poor grasshopper s leep?

The Verb has a pivotal role in sentence structure. As with the Subject, the Verb can, andoften does, consist of more than one word, but is treated as a single unit expressing notonly the basic rneaning of the main word (run, decide, imitate etc.), but also, among other

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things, the time that the action took place, whetlrer tlre action is Ílnished or not and thccertainty of the action. In the examples belor,v, the Verb is in bold:

The cat sleeps all day.He is ta lk ing rubbish.We will be seeing each other next week.The wallet might have been lost at the party.

So, although there may be up to four, possibly even five words in the verb phrase of aclause, they are usr-rally analysed as one Verb as an element of the clause. To denronstratethe importance of the Verb in a clause, try ornitting the verb phrases frorn the examplesabove. Having done that, now omit each of the other elernents in turn and see how thesense of the clause is affected.

The choice of the verb itself wil l often largely dictate what other elernetits may or nlaynot be used in the c lause. Verbs l ike yawn, s leep and scratch would seen'r to require ananimate Subject, while laugh, talk and read usually need human Subjects (although theactions of animals are sometimes described in the same terms). Some verbs need only aSubject to make a complete clause (he yawned, the cat is sleeping, Barry jurnped). whileothers appear to need some more e lements - *he h i t . . . . * they l i ke . . . , *cars cos t . . . : \ \ 'ewill look at these other elements in the next section.

Other elements in the clause

Apart frorn the two main clause elements, Subject ancl Verb, there are three others whichmay or may not appear in the clause. These are the Object, the Complement and theAdverbial. The following sentence contains examples of each of these:

The agency considered Harry indispensable fbr most jobs.

Using the definitions from the previous section, the agency is the Subject and consideredis the Verb. The remaining elements are: Object - Harry. Complement - indispensable,Adverbial - for rnost iobs. We will now examine these in turn.

The Object

Here are some more examples of both people and things as Objects:

He loves football.The dog bit the postman.The police have arrested three people.Sally opened the door to the dining room.The company sacked one hundred of its employees.Fifteen children frorn the school choir wil l be srnging AfrÍcan folk songs.

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As with the Subject. the object catl be arrythirrg from a single word (Íbotball) to aphrase (the c loor to the dining room). You wrl l not ice that the Object in each casedirectly fbllows the Verb. This is by far the nrost common position for the Objectelement in Engl ish. a l though. a-uairr , there are except ions. Engl ish is, therefore.usually reÍ.erred to aS an SVo type language. tneaning that the expected and nlostnatural orderof c lause elements is Subject + Verb t Object. l f yoLr are a nat ir , 'espeaker of Engl ish. th is rnight seem so obvious as not to be worth comment.

However, there are many languages in the world that do not follow this pattern; forexarnple, Welsh and lr ish are both VSO languages, whi le Japanese and Turkish are SOVIt appears that this latter type is nrore common than the Engl ish SVO.

Tl ie exanrplcs given so far contain what is usual ly cal led a direct object; that is , there rsonly one object in the c lause and this is the tnain Íbcus. But how do we analyse t l reObjects in the fol lowing sentences' l

A yoLrng boy sliorv'ed her the way here.Several friends have told rne the same story.The shop is sending ury father a replacement.You gave them no warning.

The direct object is shown rn bold: but that st i l l leaves us with an extra elementinrrnediately fbllowirrg thc Verb in eacl.r Setltence which we have not accounted Íbr.Whi le the direct object is the main Íbcrrs of the verb act ion. the rernaining elenlents (her.l-ne. lrly father, them) seern to be the recipients of the direct object. So, in the third

Example, ny Í.atherwi l l bc receiv ing the replacetnent. Al1 of t l rese sentences can in factbe re 'uvr i t ten to i l lustrate this idea of recip ient with very l i t t le change in rneaning:

A young boy shovved the way here to her.Several friencls have told the same story to me.The shop is sending a replacement to ml ' father.You gave no rvarning to them

The preposit ion to indicate the target of the act ion of the verb. These targets, g iven inbold. are referred to as indirect objects. Not ice that in the second set of exanrples theindire 'ct ob.ject is fonred by using a preposit ional phrase with to and also fo l lows theciirect object. wltereas irl the Ílrst set the indirect object precedes the direct object withouttcl.

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Order of Adject ives

Adjectives fo||ow an order beÍbre a noun:

This table expla ins the order of adject i r ,c 's coui ing betbrc a nolnt in the Engl ish langr-ra,ue.

althor.rgh it is r, 'ery unlikely that anyonc woulcl use erght acljectives betbre a sir-rgle noLll l.

Generally, few would use more than a couple or so. There are cascs rvhere the order ist-t't

fo l lowed. but i t works in a lnrost a l l cases. The basic lnovelttent is f l 'ortt sublect ive(opinion) to object ive ( lnater ia l lpr,rrpose).

Opinion Size Age Shape Colour Orig in Mater ia l Purpose ioun

goocl huge yol lng rouncl b lack Spanish leathe r r id ing boots

bad t iny elder ly square rvhite Japanese plast ic s le eping trag

terrible vast attciettt circular tranSparent Britislr tnetal hr-rntirlg riÍ.le

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Basic Punctuat ion

Apostrophes l-rave two functions:

o to i rrd icate ownership (John's pen)o to indicate where some letters have been missed ont, and these are cal led

contract ions (They're dr iv ing down tomorrow.)

Look at these examples and decide why the apostrophe is there:

. It's very hot today.

. I'm exlrausted. and ready Íbr bed.

. The governrnent's view has been clearly stated many times.

. Don't ask me because I- iust can't decide!o That wonlan's got a parrot on her shoulder!. It's very important to be independent and have a l ife of one's own.

A pos Í rop h e s i lt c, o tt tt.ct c't i ott,s

In spoken and infornral Engl ish i t is conrmon for sorne words to be combined andshortened: it sor-rnds ntore natural and fluid.

I can't see you tonight. : I cannot ser- you tonight.

Don't do that. It ' l l break. : Do not do that. It wi l l break.

Some contractions (two words cor-nbined and shortened) are irregular:

. won ' t : w i l l no t

. shan't : shal l not

The words is and has can both be abbreviated to 's.

. He- 's been staying with his cousin.

. He's very hard working and sel f--motivated.

. She's solc i her car and moved to Glasgow.

. She's over there beside the c lr i rrks ntachine.

In order to avoid aIly corrÍitsitrn. we sotltetirrres add got to trrake the rneaning clearer:

. She's a boat rnoored down on the coast" near Harwich.

. She's got a boat nroored down on the coast. near Harr.vich.

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A po.s t rop he s ./it t' ou, n e r,s h i p

If something belongs to a singular noun, we add ['s] - an apostrophe and a letter [s] at theend.

For example:

. the boy's computer: the computer belonging to (or being used by)the boy;o the speaker 's idea: the idea of the speaker;o the carpenter's tools : the tools of the carpenter.

If something belongs to a plural noun that already ends with an [s], tlre apostrophe toshow ownership or possession cornes after that [s] but no addit ional [s] is nonnal lynecessary.

For example:

o the boys' computers: the computers belonging to (or used by) the boys:o the speakers' ideas : the ideas of the speakers;. the carpenters' tools : the tools of the carpenters.

You will sometimes see this topic explained in terms of whether the apostrophe colresbefore or after the [s] but this is misleading. For possession, the basic forrn is to add ['s]at the end BUT if the word alreacly ends with an [s] we usually do not add the extra [s].

Apos t ro p he s .fb r ow'ners hi yt

If something belongs to a singular noun, we add ['s] - an apostrophe and a letter [s] at theend.

For example:

o the boy's computer '- the cornputer belonging to (or beirrg used by)the boy.. the speaker's idea : the idea of the speaker;o the carpenter's tools : the tools of the carpenter.

If sornething belongs to a plural noun that already ends with an [s], the apostrophe toshow ownership or possession cornes after that [s] but no additional [s] is norrnallynecessary.

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For c rantp lc .

o t l ic l -rctvs 'cot l tpLrtc l-s - thc cornptrters belongi l tg to (or Lrsccl by)the boys;o thc spcal<crs ' ic lcas .- thc ic lcas of thc speakers:. thc carpc l t t c rs ' too l s . lhe too l s o1- the carpentc rs .

YoLt u ' i l l sontct i lncs scc this topic crpla inecl in te.r lns of 'whcthcrthe apostrophe comcsbeÍbr.e or aÍter the' Is] brrt th is is n l is leacl i r lg. For pt lsscss ic- l rr . the basic Íbr l l l is to adci [ 's]at the encl BLl l - i i the' ,r 'ord already e'ncis w' i t l i an fs] r ,ve usuar l lv do not adcl the extra [s].

Stltl le tl 't lrdS at.c l-ttlt I.cgttlar irl tlreir pIurral fitrrrl. |Í.thc 1llLrral Ítlrrl l clocs t.ttlt end irr [s], rveshon, 1 ' losscss ion bv at lc l ing [ 's| to t i te cncl .

Fo r c r a l np l c :

. ch i l c l - thc . ch i l c l ' s tovs - - - c l i i l c l r c r t - thc ch i l c l r cn ' s tovs

. ntal t - thr: ntan's c lothes --- r .ncl t - thc rtren's c lctt l ics

. \\'()tttitn - tltc ri 'ol]ti l lt 's hal --- \\,oltlcn - thc u'cll 't-tctt's hats

In pr l tct ice. \\ 'c l t lso avoir l phra.scs that sounr i ockl . such as thc rnicc- 's cheesc. byreorder in,g the u'orc ls to. I i t r cxartrplc. the c lrcese of thc nt ice .

Sott lc l loL l| lS har,c ic lcrrt ical s iI lgtt lar anc1 plttra l Íbt.r l rs:

o shcep - - - shecp. ciccr' --- clccr. t ish --- t ls l t. sitItl lc.lt 't --- saItl.ttltt (arlcl l l l()St tlt lret. 11'pes o1. Ílsh)

T l t c c t l l t te r t t t l ' thc - uorc l i s the on lv r iuv o f i<nor i ' i ng w 'hethcr thc noun i s s i r rgu la r o rnlLrra I .

o t l t c s l teep ' s co i . t t - the coat o f the sheep (probab ly s ingu la r ! )o thc shcc l ' r ' s coats ' ' thc couts o t ' the shcc l ' r (p robab ly p lu ra l ! )o thc clcct.'s Íirtlclo thc f lsh 's ranic l n.to 'rcr.ncr.rts

C)rtcc a-uaitt. sor.nc o1'the 1'rhrases sor-rncl ockl. so w'e rcorclcr thc rvorcls: the fbod of thc cleert l r t l . tc. r .a1l i t l l l ]()\ c l . l lc l l t oÍ. thc Ílsh.

S( l l l lc . s i l tgtr l l t r l to lur vuot ' t ls cncl in [ .s lancl in thcsc cAses. thc norrnal rLr le of an apo.stroplreÍo||orr 'cc l b1' ' aIr [sI st i l l i rp1l l ics.

o thc sc i ssors ' s hanc l l co thc c l ress ' s scqr r i l t so t l i c p r inccss ' s hr rsbanc l. thc hor-rsc 's rool '

132

Again, in pract ice, wc often reorc lerthe words to avoic l an i i rvkn'arc l souncl ing phrase: theharrdle of the sc issors or i ts hanclIc. t l te rc loÍ.of t l re hclt tsc.

Some nan' les (proper nouns) enc. l rv i th an Is] and this can bc conf irs ing. In sLrch cascs. thcapostrophe cal l be placecl e i ther af icr the Íirra l Is] ( .|otrcs 'Íirrr l l )or at lc l ther Is] carr beadded and an apostrop!re can be placecl in f l 'ont of i t . ( . lones's farnr). Opinions c l i f - ter trrrtyou should regard both forrns as correct. Therc is an adclecl corrplication if thc propcrnoun is reÍ-errirrg to a pIural entity:

the Srn i ths 'house: the house o f t l re Snr i ths / the house o f the Snr i th f -a rn i l y .

The'apostrophe always comes bcfbre thc -s when we Lrse conrpoLlncl rvorcls:

. rxy brother- in- law's car --- nry brothe-rs- in- law's cars

. her s ister- in- law's husband --- her s istcrs- in- lar. l ' ' s hr,rsbancls

It,,s ttntl iÍ,s

These are often confused.

. it 's : it is --- It's rr-ry book.

. i ts : belonging to i t --- Have you seen nry book' l l ts cover is recl .

Wlren in dotrbt, ask yottrseIf whetherthe Íirl l Í.orrrl it is ir, ' i lI f lt i lr tlte sentcrlcc-. lf not. ttsc-i ts.

. It 's rvonclerful to bc back in thc. b ig c i ty!

. l t 's an old farm set deep in the countrv.o l ts colour changes with the seasons o1'the ycar.o I saw its eyes Í1ash irr tlre claI.ktlcss, arrc1 thcIt it u'lts g()Ilt..

These are often confused so be careÍul.

133

Practice

Rewrite this passage, placing all of the apostrophes correctly.

The ftrtr-rre looked bleak aÍler years of poor nlanagelnent and low export sales. However,the governments vierv was that the only way fbrward was up! "We shant make anyprogress by whining." exclaimed the Chancellor of the Exchequer. "We must work hard

and adopt modern solutiorrs to todays problems. His views were echoed by many of the

members of par l iament. ' fhe opposit ion disagreed. " l ts disgraceful!" cr ied the opposit ionleader. "The chancellors programme is going to bring ruin to this country!" The Prime

Ministers reply rvas short and to the point. "Thats rubbish!" he said. In fact, he was less

concerned with the opposit ions v iews thar-r he was with v iews c loser to home. He wasntore concerned about his wifes attitude. because he knew she could cause him a lot oftrouble. She rnade her views quite clear. "The peoples future depends upon goocl

housekeeping! The cabinets plans rnust reflect the needs of ordinary people. Without that,

your pafiys dootned!"

When do we use Apostrophes'/

There are two basic uses of the apostrophe in English:

To show that letters or numbers are mlsslng.

In contract ions, we use an apostrophe to indicate that a letter is miss ing:

Isn ' t : i s not' J 2 : l 9 J 2

2 - To show possessron

lf sorrrething belongs to a person or thing. we use an apostrophe to show ownership:

Jane's house is in a nice area. (The house belongs to Jane)

We put the apostrophe after the letter s in a plural:

The gir ls ' mother col lected them Íl.o lr l sc lrool . (There were two or more gir ls)

NB: With irregular plurals. we put the apostrophe before the letter s:

. The children's teacher was very popr-rlar.

a

a

134

The apostrophe with plurals

We very rarely use the apostrophe to show plurals and only under specia l c i rcurnstances:

. Some people use them with acronynrs (words made Íior'n the Í.rrst letters of aphrase, l ike CD fbr Cornpact Disc)- CD's. Others do not use the apostrophe here.

. Nurnbers- Some people write the lc)90's ancl others rvr i te the 1990s.

. To make a letter plural- rnind your p 's and q's (an expression meaning ' rn ind yourntanners')

Other than these c ircurnstances, the apostrophe should not be used in plurals unless theyare s lrowing possession.

Where a sentence has two parts that could stand alone as sentences. with only a colnlra toseparate them, i t is a comnra spl ice:

o I went outside. I needed a break.

The two parts here are both cornplete sentences and should not be joined by a comma.There are three basic ways of avoiding this:

1. Write them as two independent sentences: I went outs ide. I needed a break.(However. using this too otlen can nrake the writing rather choppy if there aretoo many short sentences.)

2. Separate thern with a semi-colon: I went or-rtside; I needed a break.3. Use a coniunct ion: I went outs ide because I needed a break.

When do we use the colon in E,nÍ]lish./

l) To introduce quotes

A colon can be used before a quote. especia l ly i f the qrrote is s iven on i l separate l ine. Aquote can be introduced l ike this: Quote (Source)

2) Before a l ist

A colon can introduce a l ist in a sentence.

o A l ist can be introduced l ike this: i tem, i tem, i tem.

135

3) Before an explanat ion

A co lon can in t roduce an exp lanat ion .

The pol ice tnade several arrests: there was a lotof trouble after the match.

4) T'o separate titles fron-r sub-heaclings.

o Punctuat ion: the co lon .

When do ive use the semi-colon in Ensl ish?

l) To connect two granltnat ical ly inc lependent i te lns that are c losely connected thror-rghmeat l inÍr

-fo l ink two things that could funct ion as independenr senrences,

in the same sentence" we separate therr with a sc 'r i -colo ':br-rt work better toÍIet|rer

Some people love i t; others hate i t .

2) To separate i tents in a l ist

Serni-colons be usecl in l ists, especia l ly useful when the l ist is compl icated.rcontairsu ,ords l i l<e 'and ' :

The governlnent has l isteci its key areas for policy: larv and order; tl-re war ondrugs; tax cuts and other econonric incent ives: . . .

Note: So're people rvr i te the 'v 'orc l withoLrt the hyphen: sernicolon.

136

LI,L

Eu1t1ril\ ra$oT ol opln3

Informal Letters

You write an infbrrna| letter to sotleone yotl knclw e.g. a ÍiiencJ or relative. Tlrelanguage is infbrmal and it docs not lrlatter if you use contracted words:( i .e. i t is - i t 's) . You use er,eryday vocabulary that is Íi imiI i i r r to yot ' t both.

o

a

You can write your address

You have to put the date under the acldressYou start the |etter usirrg a Íi.iendly terrnDave. o r He l lo L i sa .

You can Llse a nickname that rs farnil i i ir to yorl

F in ish offthe letter r-rs i l tg a f i ' icndly c-ndinge.g. Love, Sue or See you soon, Paul or WriteBest rv ishes. Carol

Dear

both

back soon.

2l Pr ince StChorleyLancs

5th March 2001

Dear Karl,

Thanks for your Ietter. It's good to ltear frcrt-n yor-r aÍicr such a lorr{: tirIe.

The photographs you sent rne of yolrr hol idays are br i l l iant! I l ike the one ofyou and me with the fish tltat we car-rght. Do you think yoLl calt get me a copy'.)

I r,vil l

Let nre knorv when you are corning up for the weekend.

Wnte soon. Chris

Useful Words for Informal Letters

Dear/HiSee you soonLove to all

Thank you

Write back soonYour lor,'ing fiicndMany tl'ranks

Kindest regards

LovefromBest w'ishesWrite soon

Reply to nre soonest

139

Formal Letters

Formal letters are used for business matters.

You write a formal letter to:

Apply forajob

. Askforinformation

. Make an enquiry

. Order goods

. Make a comPlaint

The language and style you use will depend on the reason for writing the letter. Formal

letters should:

o Be precise

o Have conect grammar

o Have correct punctuation

o Be set out correctlv

o Have a fotmal tone

Paragraphs:

I . The opening paragraph - explaining why you are writing'

2. Main paragraphs - giving details ofthe problem and what you want done.

3. Closing paragraPh and Phrases.

You will usually be writing to a company and to people you do not know'

140

The Lavout of a Formal Letter (Example)

TheTicketOfficeOpera House Manchester

M23 SJK

Dear Sit

49 Lirne CloseLeylandLancashirePR25 8TG

I I th September 2006

I should be grateful ifyou could send me fourtickets forthe evening perfom-rance of'Grease', on Friday,24 October.

I enclose a cheque for f45 and would prefer front seat stalls, though ifthese seats are not available, anyother seats would do.

Please include details of your future programme and also your special pafty rates along with thetickets.

Yoursfaithfullv.

Dean Scott

Useful Words for Formal Letters

Yours faithfully Yours sincerelyI look forward to hear ing from you . . . .I enclose a stamped addressed envelopeWi th re ference to . . . .P l ea se cou l d you send me . . . .In reply to your letterI am writing to ask forDear S i rDear Sirs

Dear MadamDear M iss

Dear MsDear S i r or Madam

P lease cou ld you send meI wou l d l i k e t o r eques t a . . . . .I wou ld be gra te fu l i f . . . . . .I r e f e r t o you r r e cen t . . . . . .

141

Letters of complaint

These can be diffrcult to compose because there is a 'fine line' between being fum and

insistent and being rude. If you use a sarcastic or angry tone you are less likely to

encourage the person who receives your letter to deal with it quickly. lt is often useful to'uvrite a letterofcomplaint ifyor-r have uot had success by other means.

Paragraphs:

Paragraph I - The reason you are complaining

Paragraph2 Exact details about your complaint

Paragraph 3 - Details of how you have been affected / 'uvhat hashappened

Paragraph 4 Details of what you thirrk should happen next

Remember: letters of complaint should be clear. concise and coufteous.

Some UsefulPhrases.

I wor.r ld l ike.. .

There appears to have been a rnistake...

By return of post at your earliest convenience. . .

Could you supply. . .

Could you please give this matteryoururgent attention

I am particularly unhappy about

I'm sorry to have to say . . .

I 'm sor ry that . . .

I 'm ve r y keen t o . . .

Unfortunately, . . .

I was del ighted to see/hear that. . .

Thank you so much for. . .

Happ i l y , . . .

P lease accept my apologies for. . .

Despite my reqLlest for. . .

. . . is not what I expected

What wou ld su i t me bes t i s . . .

. . . was l ] ' l os t impress i r e

Even though I previously rnent ioned.. .

142

Letter Asking for InÍbrmation

Letters asking for inÍbnnatiotl shorr|d be clear. concise and courteous. If you are

wnting in response to an advertisenrent or article. yoir t-t-tust state clearly where and when you

saw it.

You nced to be clear about the infonnation yolr require.

Sorne Useful Phrases:

Please could you send me.. .

I would be grateful ifyou woLrld send rne . . .

I would like to get sorne information about . . ..

As advertised in (name ofnewspaper/ ntagazine)on (date)

I arl inquinng about . . ..

I was inte rested in your advertisernent for. . ...in (name of newspaper / r-r-ragazine)of (date) and.. .

I anl parlicularly interested in. . .

Please could you also let n-re know... Please

could you scnd nre. . .

I enclose a cheque Íbr (anror-rr"rt)

I enclose a starnped addressed envelopc

I look forward to hearins from vou

143

l .

2.

3 .

4 .

A Good Letter Checkl ist

You may l ike to use this checkl isteffective.

to help you measurewhether your letter wil l be

Is the layout correct,] i.e. reÍ-erence. date, address. beginning (salutation), heading,body, ending (compl imentary c lose), and s ignature.

ls the font the correct size?

Is the handwrit ing neat '/

Does the layout look good? ls there enough 'white space', good margins.

and clear paragraphs'/

Does each paragraph containparagraphs in a logical order'/

interesting / relevant paragraph'l Does it put the

one aspect of your subject? Are the

I . Is the letter easy to read'J Does it avoid jargon, old-fashioned words andphrases'/

8. Is the spell ing correct and is the text correctly punctuated?

9. Is the tone appropriate, friendly, sincere, and courteous'/

Does the letter answer the reader's needs'/

I l. Is the letter con-rplete - no unanswered questions'/

Does the letter say what it wants to say'/

Wi l l the letter bui ld and maintain goodwi l l ' l

If you were the reader would you understand the letter'/

5. Does the letter open with a shorlreader in the picture'?

6 .

10 .

12 .

1 4 .

13 .

144

9V'

fiTJTTUY N{Y CNIITITilA\

Writing a good Article

ln order to write a good arlicle, you need first to find the thenre or topic sentence whichsummarises what you are going to write about, and tlren rlake a plap. This strategy willenable you to write quickly and c lear ly, help you think of a t i t le lnore easi lv und uuu,work wi l l have cohesion.

Using this method gives the topic sentence of each paragraph and connects it to the otherparagraphs. These topic sentetrces can be made into one paragraph and then clevelopecl toÍbrrn a whole afticle. Conversely, these topic sentences. when taken together, can be usedto cut down the ent ire art ic le into a one-paragraph surnmary of the whole piece.

Imagine you have been asked to write the fbl lowing aft ic le:

Have you studied abroad?

Have you spent time studying in another country'/ We invite you. ollr readers, to submitan ar-ticle on your experiences in that country, to be included in our fbrthcoming series onliving and studying abroad.

Share yollr experiences with us. Tell us what you str-rdied and about anv difficulties voufaced while you were there. Have you changed as a result of this,/

Write your art ic le. (250 words)

F'irst think atlout:. Where is the article going to appear? (ln a tr-ragazine.)' who are the intended readers'/ (probably a fairly wide age group.)' What is the aim of the ar l ic le? (To ta lk about your exper iences, good a'd bad,while studying abroad.)

Then you need to decide:. Which country have you studied in'/. How long were you there for' l. What did you study'/. What problems did yoLr have while you were there?. How have you changed'/

Brainstorm yol l r ideas and make notes of what you are goin-e to inc lude.

147

Such as :

o getting used to the food I drfferent rneal tirnes

o going shopping

o weather

o money or expeltses

. language

. |ooking aÍter yor"rrself - cooking, shopping, housework

. Ílndrng somewlrere to l ive

o gett ing ut i l i t ies connected

. difÍlcr"rlty studying

. firrding Ír.iends

. being lonely

. miss ing the fami ly

. homesickness

Then. after some thought. you should be able to think of a topic sentence which can beexpanded into a paragraph. For example. a topic sentence which could starl anintrodr-rct ion is:

'studying abroad is an exciting experience, giving you the opportunity to learn moreabout the tradit ions and culture of the host country and i ts people. '

This could then be expanded into the followir"rg paragraph:

'studying abroad is an excit ing exper ience. giv ing you the opportunity to learn moreabout the traditions and culture of the host country and its people. Apart from theexcellent edr-rcation I received during three years in England, I also made a wide circle ofÍiierrds arrd irnproved lrry larrguage skil ls. I leanred how to face and deal with variousproblerns, and as a result. have become lnore independent and self-confident.'

If we extract the ideas out of this one paragraph. it is possible to form a plan for theart ic le , based on the fol lowing topic setttences:

INTRODUCTIONParagraph I - Erciting experience, learn about the host country and the people.

Paragraph 2 - Educat ion, fr iends and language ski l ls .

MAIN BODYParagraph 3 - Var ious problems.

148

r T

CONCLUSIONParagraph 4 - Result

With the above plan,enlarging on each topicalso easier to think of a

- independent and self-conficlent.

i t is now possiblesentence so that yor-rt i t le.

to proceed to write the art ic le, s imply bycan produce a paragraph about that idea. lt is

Read the following article based on the abov'e plan.

LEARNING ABOUT LIFE

Studying abroad is an exciting experience. gil ' ing y'ou fhe opportunitv'to lcarn r.norc aboutthe traditions and cu\ture of t\'re \rost countrl and its peop\e. Apart hom the excc'llenteducatiott l received during rhrce }cars irl Eirglarrd. í a/so lttatíc a wítÍe círcle tlÍ.Ílíerrdsa n c l i n r p r o v e r l t t r y l a n g t t a l t e s k i ' l l s I ' l e e r n e d h o w t o t - : r c c : r n < l r l , - : r l . r . , i t h . r r r i , ' r r . , 1 r ' . l r l t ' r r r . ,

and as a result, have become more independent and self-confident.

I studied Engl ish L i terature and this, a long with rnaking many fr iends both at univers i tyand through the part-time job I had, helped improve my English. Although I alreadyspoke the language quite well, when I first arrived I had tror-rt'rle understancling son-reaccents and the slang or colloquialisn'rs that are in everyday usc. Now I am a much morefluent and natural speaker, and my writing has improved, too.

The biggest problerns I faced were finding somewhere to l ive when I did not know thearea well, getting the electricity and phone connected and generally learning to look aftermyself. I had to get used to shopping, cooking and doing the housework, as rvell asstudying and working, so I quickly mastered the art of p lannins rny t ime sensibly.Although adapting to l iving in a new country is not easy, once the initial homesicknessand missing the family has been overcome, learning to fend for yourself cer-tairrly makesyou a more independent person, and definitely more selÍ--conÍldent.

My time abroad helped me grow as a person and I feel I could tackle any problem now ina calm and confident manner, withor"rt having to immediately ask sorneone for their help.

(270 words)

149

P t{,tcl-l c r,Lx.\ j\l I N..\' l ' l oN 13()() K

l.-c[. LEVE[. C] (l]2)lrR,\("1' lcF, Lx. '\\ ls l -5

This book is designed to help studentswishing to take the ECL English Level C (82)language exam.

The book comprises of 5 complete ECL practice exam tests for the oral, thelistening, the reading and the writing parts of the exam.

Each practice exam is accompanied by an answer key and a transcript of thelistening tests.

The book is also suitable for self-study (using the answer key to correct your work).

lt is recommended for students who do not only set out to pass the exam but alsowish to improve their English knowledge

ln the second half of the book you will find numerous useful sections, such as:writing skills - formal, informal and short articles - along with useful phrases forboth the oral and written parts of the exam. These examples are provided to helpstudents acquire the right terminology and enable them to pass the exam

Examination instructions and an examination topic list are provided for yourguidance.

(The exercise types in the book prepare students for the intermediate level language exam recognised by

Note:

the l{ungarian state).